
Q c: 



aass.D^,l%'R5 



Book 



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NOTES, 



CRITICAL AND PRACTICAL, 



ON THE BOOK OF 



JOSHUA 



©ESKiNED AS A GENERAL HELP TO 



BIBLICAL READING AND INSTRUCTION 



By GEORGE BUSH, 

PROF, OF HEB. AND ORIENT. LIT. N. Y. CITY UNIVERSITY, 



SECOND EDITION* 



NEW YORK: 

PrBLISHED BY NEWMAN AND IVISON, 

199 Broad%Yay. 

CmCIXNATI : MOORE & ANDERSON. AUBURN : J. C. ITlSOK & CO. 
CHICAGO : S. C. GRIGGS & CO. 

IS-r'i, 






Entered according to the Act of Congress in the year 1844, by 
GEORGE BUSH, 

m the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York. 



fi'. JV. Benedict & Co., Stereotxfpers and Printert^ 
No. 16 Spruce street, N V, 



Exchange 
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OCT 1 4 1933 



•^ 

n 



INTRODUCTION 




TO THE 



^ HISTORICAL BOOKS IN GENERAL 



That portion of the Old Testament which contains the history of the 
affairs of the Jewish nation, from the death of Moses to its conquest by 
the Chaldeans, is comprised in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, 
and Kings. These, in the Hebrew classification, are termed the F'or- 
mer Prophets. The title Prophets is giv^en them on the ground of the 
general belief, that they were written under the prompting of a Divine 
impulse ; and the epithet Former is applied in reference to the place 
which they occupy in the Sacred Canon, as preceding the books of the 
Latter Prophets^ an appellation bestowed upon those whose character is 
more strictly prophetical, viz., Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve 
Minor Prophets. The records of the nation from the time of the exile 
and the return thence, down to the close of the Persian empire, are 
contained in the books of Esther, Ezra, and Nehemiah, which the He- 
brews attach to that part of the canon called the Hagiographa, in which 
are included also the books of Ruth and Chronicles. How ancient this 
division was, we cannot positively affirm; but it was current at least as 
early as the time of Jerome and the later Talmudists. 

As to the sources from which these records were derived, there is a 
very great degree of uncertainty, although it is admitted that they are 
a species of compilation, made up, for the most part, from pre-existing 
documents, in the shape of annals or chronicles, which were doubtless 
co-eval with the events narrated. The evidence of such an origin dis- 
closes itself repeatedly in the texture of the records themselves, as we 
shall have occasion hereafter to notice, although it does not seem to 
have entered into the design of the writers to designate, by formal refer- 
ence or citation, the sources from which they drew. The mere circum- 
stance that we have, in the Sacred Canon, a number of books bearing 
the names of certain individuals, does not of itself prove that the books 
were originally written, or even subsequently compiled, by the persons 
whose names they bear. Thus, if we admit that Joshua wrote the book 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

which has come down to us with his name, yet as he could not have 
written the account of his own death, or of the subsequent events, it is 
clear that some hand besides his own is to be recognized in the compo- 
sition. So neither was the book of Judges written as the joint produc- 
tion of those whose names it bears ; nor the books of Samuel by Samuel, 
as a great part of the events related in them occurred after his decease : 
nor the book of Ruth by Ruth ; nor the books of Kings and Chronicles 
by the kings, each furnishing the history of his own reign ; nor, finally, 
the book of Esther by Esther herself. In regard to Ezra and Nehemiah, 
the case is somewhat different ; as they expressly declare themselves 
the authors, and nothing in the contents invalidates the claim. As, 
then, it is as common for historical documents to bear a title derived 
from the personages and the subject-matter treated, as from the writers 
themselves, nothing definite gan be inferred as to the authorship of any 
of the sacred books from the simple name by which it is distinguished. 
This is a question that is to be determined by a variety of considera- 
tions, in which the voice of tradition is entitled to weigh just in propor- 
tion as there is nothing in the internal evidence of the book itself, or in 
the statements of contemporaneous history, to countervail its testimony. 
The question of the inspiration of these writings is not affected by the 
question of their origin. Their derivation from anterior documents, 
as we have remarked in regard to the book of Genesis, does not militate 
with their claims to the character of absolutely truthful and infallible 
records of the events which they relate. It is clear that the purposes 
of a Divine revelation require the character of unimpeachable truth in 
the communications which shall comprise it, and equally clear is it, that 
under the superintending control of Providence, an inspired man may 
make use of an uninspired document, handed down to him from a prior 
period, if that document be true in itself, and adapted to the object for 
which it is employed. But, in fact, nothing forbids that such preceding 
documents should themselves have originated in a supernatural prompt- 
ing, of which the authors were unconscious. The Divine Spirit, who 
sees the end from the beginning, may have had in view an ultimate use 
of the written records of his servants, which governed, unknown to 
them, their form and structure from their very inception ; and a song 
of triumph chanted over a slain or routed foe, the memoir of a distin- 
guished deliverer, the narrative of a siege in some " war of the Lord," 
the legend of a miracle, the inscription on a pillar or the certificate of a 
sale, may have been as truly suggested, overruled, and preserved by the 
Spirit of inspiration, as any precept of the decalogue, or any vision of a 
prophet. Whatever God sees fit to authenticate^ by adopting into His 
word, is to be considered as having virtually the stamp of inspiration. 



INTRODUCTION. V 

The character and attributes of the several historical books will come 
separately to be considered as we enter upon the exposition of each ; but 
we may here remark, as lo the sources from which the materials are 
drawn, that there is a high probability that persons of a prophetical cha- 
racter existed all along the line of the Hebrew annals, whose office it 
was to record the leading events of their history, and deposit them in 
the public archives of the nation. The books of Kings and Chronicles 
seem to be mainly made up from these sources. 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 

INTRODUCTION. 

§ 1 . Title ^ AiUhor^ and Age. 

The titles of the several books in the Sacred Canon, as we have already 
remarked, designate, for the most part, rather their subject-matter than 
their authors. The book before us is the first that is called by the name 
of an individual, and that probably for the reason now suggested, that 
it relates exclusively to the important series of events in the Israelitish 
history in which Joshua was so conspicuous an actor. It details the 
various proceedings of this illustrious leader in the execution of the 
high trust committed to him as the successor of Moses. Yet this leaves 
undetermined the question respecting its true authorship. The voice 
of Jewish tradition very generally ascribes the book to Joshua, and 
there is nothing to be gathered from internal evidence which militates 
with the conclusion that the bulk of it may have proceeded from his 
hand. That certain passages, however, were, iipon this supposition, 
inserted at a later period, as is evidently the case in regard to the Pen- 
tateuch, may safely be admitted, without detracting from its canonical 
authority or genuineness. Indeed, should it be maintained, as is done by 
some critics, that it was wholly composed after his demise, from docu- 
ments penned by him or under his direction, this will still leave its claims 
to a place, in its present form, in the inspired writings, unaflfected. The 
arguments sustaining this position have already been given in the pre- 
ceding section. Yet, on the whole, the evidence appears to preponder- 
ate in favor of the opinion which makes Joshua the author, with the 
exception of the parts above alluded to. We cannot, indeed, place 
1* 



VJ INTRODUCTION. 

much Stress upon the passage, ch. 24. 26, in which Joshua is said to 
have ' written these words in the book of the law of God,' for it is 
not clear that any thing more is there intended than the words uttered 
on that occasion, and in which the people express their solemn engage- 
ments to be faithful to the covenant. See Note in loc. But the follow- 
ing considerations have more weight. 

(1.) The style of the composition is remarkably pure, free from 
foreign words, forms, or idioms, and so strikingly conformed to that of 
the Pentateuch as to argue a date nearly co-eval with it. 

(2.) The writer speaks of himself as one that participated in the trans- 
actions which he records, ch. 5. 1 : ' And it came to pass, when all the 
kings of the Amorites which were on the side of Jordan westward, and 
all the kings of the Canaanites which were by the sea, heard that the 
Lord had dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of 
Israel, ifTt^// ice ir ere passed over, that their heart melted; neither was 
there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel.' As it 
is said, moreover, ch. 6. 25, that ' Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, 
and her father's household, and all thai she had ; a7id she dicelleth in 
Israel even U7ito this dap,^ there is a strong presumption that this was not 
written later than near the close of Joshua's life; and if so, he would 
be as likely to have written it as any one else. 

(3.) It is scarcely conceivable that so many names of persons and 
places as occur in this book, should have been preserved, unless in a 
cotemporary document ; and from whom would such a document have 
been more likely to proceed than from Joshua himself? He might 
naturally be expected to record such transactions as went to illustrate 
the truth of the Divine promises made to his people. 

(4.) The division of the land among the different tribes was doubt- 
less recorded at the time it was made, and it was certainly made by 
Joshua in person, immediately after the conquest. The account of this 
division occupies a very considerable portion of the whole book 
(ch. 14-21.), and as it is difficult, in the absence of all testimony to the 
contrary, to assign a reason why Joshua should not have written the 
bulk of the other parts as well as this, the presumption undoubtedly is, 
especially as tradition affirms it, that he is the principal author. The 
truth of the tradition may fairly be taken for granted, unless the work 
itself can be shown to contain internal evidence against it. 

(5.) In ch. 17. 13, it is said, 'It came to pass, when the children of 
Israel werl waxen strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute; but 
did not utterly drive them out.' This has the air of having been writ- 
ten shortly after the conquest. Had it been penned at a much later 
period, the writer would scarcely have failed to mention the well known 



LNTRODUCTION. 



Vll 



fact, that the Israelites were soon seduced into idolatry by these very 
tributaries. The date of the writing was undoubtedly prior to this 
apostacy. 

The principal objections against assigning the authorship of the 
look to Daniel, are the following: — 

(1.) In ch. 10. 13. the circumstance of the sun and moon being stayed 
in their course is said to be written in the book of Jasher. This testi- 
mony, it is contended, would not have been quoted by Joshua, or any 
other contemporary writer, concerning transactions of recent occurrence 
and unusual notoriety. The inference therefore is, that the book enti- 
tled ' the Wars of the Lord' mast have been written at a much earlier 
period than that in which it is cited. But there is no difliculty in sup- 
posing, that, as Joshua probably composed his book towards the latter 
part of his life, he might have introduced an apposite quotation from a 
history or poem containing a more minute or vivid description of the 
miracle, and written some years before his own. 

(2.) The use of the phrase ^ to this day ' is supposed to indicate a 
period very considerably subsequent to the date of the events. Thus 
c-f the stones set up in the Jordan, ch. 4. 9. • they are there unto this 
day ;' — of the place where the reproach of Eg\'pt was rolled away, 
ch. 5. 9, 'the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day ;' — of the 
valley of Achor. ch. 7. 26, 'it is so called U7ito this day;' — of the ruins 
of Ai, ch. S. 28, • it is a desolation unto this day ;^ — and so in other 
instances. In reply to this it can only be said, that the phrase does not 
necessarily imply any considerable length of time. If Washington had 
written annals of the American Revolution in the last year or two of his 
life, no one would have been surprised to hear him saying of certain 
monuments or memorials of battles and ^-ictories. that they remained 
'unto this day.' In like manner Joshua might have expressed himself 
in the same language in similar circumstances, 

(3.) An argument to the same effect is derived from the narrative 
ch. 19. 48, 49, of the taking of Leshem by the Danites. This event, it 
is said, appears from Judges IS. 27-29, to have occurred after the death 
of Joshua, and therefore the present account of it is inconsistent with 
the asserted authorship of the book. Hence some have attributed its 
composition to Eleazar, some to Samuel, and some to Isaiah or Ezra. 
But it is not necessary, on this account, to attempt to invalidate the 
claims of Joshua to the authorship of the substance of the book. It is 
-^t denied that occasional interpolations have been made by later hands, 
aad this may safely be admitted to be one. although it is to be remarked, 
that Jahn and others express strong doubts whether the two narratives 
refer to the same expedition, as they they vary in several particulars. 



Vlll INTR0I>U€TION, 

(4.) It is objected that certain places are called in tbis book bynames 
which they did not acquire till some ages afterwards. But as to ' the 
stray city Tyre/ ch. 19. 29, Bochart contends that this is not the cele- 
brated city of that name^ but an inland fortified place. So the Cabul 
mentioned ch. 19. 27, is affirmed by Reland not to have been the coun- 
try to which that name was applied by Hiram in Solomon's time, but a 
city which in the age of Josephus had degenerated into a village. We 
may observe, too, in this connexion, that the expression ' house of God/ 
ch, 9. 23, is not exclusively applied to the temple^ but also to ^Ae tabernacle^ 
as the Bedouins apply the terra to a tent. 

On the wholcy therefore, we feel little hesitation in refering the author- 
ship of the book, as a whole, to Joshua, though we doubt not that certain 
isolated passages have been inserted by copyists or revisers at a subse- 
quent period. We see no good reason to doubt that the history here 
given is his work, as truly as the Commentaries of Cgesar are his ; and 
in this view we are confirmed by the a priori probabilities of the case. 
Moses, it is certain, kept an accurate register of the various events that 
took place during his administration in the wilderness ^ and as Joshua 
was his constant servant and companion, he could not but be aware of 
the importance of such historical memoranda, nor can it well be sup- 
posed that, having succeeded him in the same office^ he should not have 
continued the same practice. 

§ 2. Contents^ Scope ^ and Design. 
The book relates the history of Israel while under the command and 
government of Joshua; the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan ; their 
conquest of the greater part of the country ; the division of the territory 
by lot among the several tribes \ and the provision made for the settle- 
ment and establishment of the Jev/ish church in that country. The 
length of time embraced in this history is variously stated by chronolo- 
gists, at seventeen^ twenty-seven, and thirty years. Between twenty-six 
and twenty-seven years is the usually received and most probable period. 
The leading drift of the writer is to demonstrate the faithfulness of God 
in the perfect accomplishment of all his promises to the patriarchs, 
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and also to Moses, that the children 
of Israel should obtain possession o-f the land of Canaan. Viewed in 
this light, it is an invaluable appendage to the preceding five books af 
Moses, and indeed bears to them very much the same relation as does 
the Acts of the Apostles to the Gaspels of the four Evangelists. The 
inspired historian relates, with all the animation of one who was an 
actual eye-witness and participator of the scenes described, the success- 
ive miracles that favored and secured the conquest of the country^ tke 



INTRODUCTION. IX 

general zeal, activity, and obedience of Israel in prosecuting their wars, 
with the occasional lapses and transgressions that interrupted the career 
of their victories. We see the Divine power and faithfulness conspicu- 
ously displayed in guiding, cherishing, and defending the chosen peoj-^e 
amidst all the trials to which they were exposed ; and while the gen- 
eral tenor of the narrative affords a striking emblem of the warfare of 
the Christian in gaining possession of his heavenly inheritance, it min- 
isters the most abundant encouragement to those who in sincerity and 
faith throw themselves upon the superintending care of that Being, who 
keepeth covenant and mercy for ever. 

The following will serve as a synopsis of the contents of the several 
chapters : 

Part I. — The Entrance of the Israelites into Ca7iaan. 

1. The appointment of Joshua as leader of Israel, ch. 1. 

2. The spies sent out to view the land, ch. 2. 

3. The miraculous passage of the Jordan, ch. 1. 10-18, ch. 2. 4 

4. The renewal of the covenant, ch. 5. 1-13. 

Part II. — The Victories of the Israelites under Joshiui. 

1. The conquest of Jericho, ch. 6. 

2. The capture of Ai, ch. 7. 8. 

3. Fraud of the Gibeonites — conquest of the five kings — miracle 

of the sun's standing still, ch. 9. 10. 

4. Conquest of Canaan completed, ch. 11. 

5. Recapitulation of the conquests of Israel, ch. 12. 13. 

Part III. — Division of the Country. 

1. Inheritance of the two tribes and a half, ch. 13. 

2. General division of Canaan, ch. 14. 

3. Inheritance of Caleb, ch. 14. 15. 

4. Lot of Judah, ch. 15. 

5. Lot of Joseph, ch. 16. 17. 

6. The Tabernacle set up, ch. 18. 

7. Lot of Benjamin and the remaining tribes, ch. 18. 19. 

8. Inheritance of Joshua, ch. 19. 

9. Cities of refuge and Levitical cities, ch. 20, 21. 

Part IV. — The last Exhortations and Death of Joshua. 

1. The assembling of the people and first address of Joshua, ch. 23, 

2. The tribes again assembled and addressed by Joshua, ch. 24. 

3. The death and burial of Joshua, ch. 24. <. 

4. The death and burial of Eleazar, ch. 24. 



X mfRoDucnow. 

§ 3. Commentators. 
(1.) Jewish. 

Rabbi Schelomoh Ben Jizchak, commonly called Rasche, or Jarchij 
R. David Kimchi ; and R. Levi Ben Gerson, commonly denominated 
Ralbag, have each of them furnished commentaries on this book, which 
are found in the Biblia Rabbinica of Buxtorf, published A. D. 1618. 
For a character of Jarchi, see Introduction to Judges. 

n"i5?i:^ ^n"li 5?:z:in'' "^^^t^ pirosh YehosJma lerabbi Yeshayah, i. e. The 
Commentary of JR. Isaiah on Joshua, written out, translated, and illus- 
trated with notes, from a Manuscript in the Library of the Senate of 
Leipsic, by D. George Abicht. Leips. 1712. Republished in the The- 
saurus Novus Theologico-PMlologicOj or Sylloge of Exegetical Disserta- 
tions on Select Passages of the Old and New Testament, from the 
Museum of Theod. Hase and Conrad Iken, Leyden, 1732, vol. i., p. 474, 
seqq. This Rabbi Isaiah, the son of Elias, who is called Isaiah the 
latter, flourished in the 1 3th century^ and wrote commentaries on the 
books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Ezra, which Masius says, in the 
catalogue of Jewish authors subjoined to his Commentary on Joshua, 
that he possessed in manuscript, and from which he often quotes. 
Comp. WoLFii Biblioth. Hebr. T. L, p. 705, seqq. 

(2.) Christian. 

Mart. Borrhai, called also Cellarius, Commeniarii in Libros JosueHj 
JudicuMj SamueliSj et Regnm. Basil. 1557. FoL 

Victor Strigelii Liber Josnce, argumentis et scholiis illustratus. Leips. 
1570, 1575. 8 vo. 

Andrew Mash. Josuce Imjperatoris Historia illustrata atque explicate, 
Antverpise, 1574. Fol. 

Masius, though a lawyer and a Catholic, has produced by far the 
most elaborate work ever published on the book of Joshua, and probably 
the most valuable commentary, with the single exception of that of Cal- 
met, to which the Roman church can lay claim. Considering the age 
in which it was written, and the limited facilities which the author 
could have enjoyed for such a performance, it is truly a remarkable 
work; and it will rather enhance the reader's estimation of its merit to 
know, that it comes within the list of books prohibited by the Papal see 
— a fate which we might be certain a priori its excellence would secure 
to it. Pool, in the preface to his Synopsis, says of Masius, * Vir lon- 
giore vita et immortali memoria dignus ; interpres cni parem ingenio^ 
judicio, rerum ac linguarum peritia, eandore et modestia, baud facile 
leperies,'— «fl^ man v)orthy of a longer life and of an undying celebrity / 



tNTRODCCTlON. Xl 

itn interpreteTj whose equ<zl in taknf, judgment, histvrictil knowledge^ skill 
in languages, candor ^nd mod-esty^ is not easily to he found. Similar 
commendation is bestowed by Buddeus, Walchius, and other biblio- 
graphers upon the commentary of Masius; and from having it constantly 
before me in the preparation of the ensuing notes, I feel no hesitation 
in subscribing to the general justice of these encomiums. The work 
contains, besides the commentary^ the book of Joshua in the original 
Hebrew, with the Greek of the Septuagint, and a three-fold Latin trans- 
lation^ together with a preface containing valuable readings to the Greek, 
from a manuscript copy in his possession, which since his death has 
unfortunately been lost to the learned world. 

David Chytr.ei Pra:lecti-enes in libruni Josuce, Rostochii* 1577. 8vo. 

Bened. Ari^ Montani Liher de optimo Imperio^ sive in Librum Josucz 
Comnieiiiarius. Antwerp. 1583. 4to. 

"NicoL. Seraru Co7?ime7itariios in Librum Jqsucs. Duob. Tom. Mogunt. 
1609. Paris. 1610, Fol. 

CosMiE Magaliani Commentarii in sacfam Josneb histofiam, cum Appen^ 
dice rerum ab eo g e star uw. ante ingressum ierrce SanctcE. Turnoni. 1612. 
Tom. I., II. Foh 

Jo. Drusii aA loca di-ffiGiliora Josua, Judicum, el Samuelem Commenta- 
rius. Additur est Sixtini Amama Commeniariits de Deci/ms Mosaicis. 
Franeck. 1618. 4to. 

Jac. Bonfrerh Josua, Judices, et Rutk Commentario iUustrati. Paris. 
1631. Fol. 

Emanuelis de Naxera Commenta.rii liter ales et morales in Josuam, hos- 
txlibus redimittim trophoiis, cum appendice de Rah-ab et Area figuraia. T. L 
Antwerp. 1650, and T. IL Lugd. 1652. Fol. 

Henr M.ARCELLI Cor/imeniarius in libru7ti Josues. Herbipoli. 1665. 4to. 

Phil. Lud> Hanneckii Adnotata pkUologica in Josuam. Gissae. 1665. 
8vo. 

Jo. Adami Osiandri Commentarius in Josnam, exhibens sacrum cum 
exegesi textum, lectionum et versionum varietatem, conciliatas antilogias^ 
chronologiam, utilium qucsstiomcm solutionem, objectiones cum vindiciis, 
observationes pMlologicas, ei locos cummunes doctrinales. Tubing. 1681, 
Pol. 

Sebast. Schmidh Prcelectiones academicds in octo prior a libri Josuce 
capita. Hamburgi. 1693. 4to. 

For the character of Schmid as a Scriptural critic, see the list of 
Commentators prefixed to the book of Judges. His t^relections on 
Joshua, w^hich were arrested at the eighth chapter by the death of the 
author, are of similar character and value with those on the succeeding 
book. He affords very important aid to the commentator. 



Xll INTRODUCTiOiV. 

Jac. Felibien Pentateuchus historicus, sive quinque libri historici, Josua^ 
Judices, Ruth J ac duo Re gum {Samuelis)^ cum Comrnentariis, ex f ante He- 
hraica, versiojie Septuaginta Interpretum et variis auctoribus colleciis, 
Paris. 1704. 4to. 

GoTTLOB WiLH. Meyer Ueber die Besfundtheile und die (Ekonoviie dei> 
Bucks Josua. In the Theolog. Krit. Journ,^ edited by Bertholdt, vol. IL. 
Fasc. 4to. p. 337, seqq. Solisbach. 1815. 

H. E. G. Paulus Blicke in das Buck Josua, als Vorgeschichie der S'uffe- 
tin und Samuels^ in auctoris Theologisch-Exegetischen Conservatorium^ 
P. IL, p. 149, et seq. Heidelberg. 1822. 

Claud. Henr. Van Herwerden Disputatio de Libra Josua, sive de 
diver sis ex quibus constat Josucd liber mo7iuvientis, deque crtate, qua eorum 
vixerint auctores. Groning. 1826. 870. 

The object of the author is to show that the book of Joshua is com- 
posed often diiFerent documents, each of which is clearly distinguished 
from the others in style, diction, and scope. These various portions he 
has designated, and contends that they are distinctly marked by certain 
peculiarities of verbal usage, running through them respectively. Ro- 
senmueller, however, objects that this is very precarious ground on 
which to form a definite decision of this nature; and though he gives 
the author credit for great research and acumen, he evidently deems 
his conclusions of little value. 

F. J. V. D. Maurer Commeniar uber das Buck Joshua. Stuttgard. 
1831. 8vo. 

This is mainly a verbo-critical commentary, detailing the nice points 
of grammatical construction, and indicating the application of certain 
philological principles, fixed by Gesenius and Ewald, to the language 
of the book. In this respect it has some value, but very little in any 
other. The author belongs to the freest school of biblical criticism, 
and does not scruple to call all the supernatural events recorded mythi- 
cal, and like De Wette and others, considers the book a sort of patch- 
work, made up of the shreds of pre-existing rhapsodies and fragments. 

In the ensuing Commentary, as well as in all my former vols, on the 
Pentateuch, I have adopted the plan of giving the Hebrew without 
points, simply with a view to preserve uniformity in the appearance of 
the printed page ; as the insertion of the points would necessarily throw 
the lines, between which they occurred, wider asunder than the rest. 
By way of compensation I have endeavored to express the pronunciation 
of the Hebrew words in English letters ; and as for this purpose the 
sounds of the vowels have to be modified by accenis, the reader will 
bear in mind that they are indicated as follows: — 

d=a in halL e—a in hate. i=?; in shire. 0=^om bone. U= 00 in moon. 



THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 



N 



CHAPTER I. 

OW after the death of Mo- 
the servant of the 



ses. 



1. Now after the death of Moses ^ 
(f'C. The literal rendering of the 
Heb. is, ' And it was (or happened) 
after the death of Moses, and the 
Lord spake, &c.' This rendering 
discloses more perfectly the use of 
the copulative ' and ' in the original, 
which is SO employed as to bring this 
book into immediate connexion with 
the foregoing, and thus makes it a 
regular continuation of the sacred 
narrative begun and carried on by 
Moses in the five preceeding books. 
In like manner the book of Ruth 
commences with a similar phraseol- 
ogy, "^rr^l And it came to pass^ &c., 
although it cannot be questioned that 
there are other instances, as in the 
opening of the books of Esther and 
Ezekiel, where the 1 v cannot have a 
copulative^ but merely a conversive 
sense ; i. e., it converts, according to 
a peculiarity of the language, the 
future into the past or pretorite sense. 
— The time referred to at the opening 
of this book, was probably at the 
conclusion of the thirty day's mourn- 
ing for Moses, spoken of Deut. 34, 
8 ; or it might have been during that 
period ; in which time also it is the 
opinion of some commentators that 
the spies (chap. 2, 1) were sent out. 
IT The servant of the Lord. A 



Lord, it came to pass that t:>e 
Lord spake unto Joshua the scri 
of Nun, Moses' ''minister, saying, 

a Exod. 24. 13. Deut. 1. 33. 

high and honorable title, applied to 
Moses, not merely in the sense in 
which it is applied to pious and good 
men generally^ who may justly be 
styled servants of the Most High, in- 
asmuch a:^ it is the grand aim of their 
lives to serve and obey him ; but in 
this connexion carrying with it a 
reference to the peculiar nature of the 
service in w^hich Moses Vv^as em- 
ployed, viz., that of a minister, me- 
diator, deputy, or vicegerent of God, 
the honored organ through whom he 
communicated his will to his chosen 
people and managed all their varied 
interests. It is in this character that 
he stands so highly commended in 
the sacred volume, having received 
the divine testimony to his being 
' found faithful in all God's house as 
a servant,^ and being expressly dis- 
tinguished by this title, not only here, 
where God himself is pleased so to 
denominate him, v. 2, but also in 
Rev. 15. 3, where it is said of the 
company standing upon the sea of 
glass, that they ' sing the song of Mo- 
ses the servant of God.^ On the sense 
of ministerial ruling oftentimes in- 
volved in the term servant, see Note 

Gen. 24. 2. "^The Lord spake vntn 

Joshua, (^c. The name of this illus- 
trious leader of Israel appears in a 



14 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451 



somewhat different form in several 
different connexions in which it oc- 
curs. In Num. 13. 16, we are in- 
formed that < Mobes called Oshea the 
son of Nun, Jehoshua,' where the ori- 
ginal is in the first instance 5>Ii:in 
ho.s/iea, the same name with that of 
the Prophet Hosea, and in the second 
S^iLnrr^ yekoshua, having the firi^ let- 
ter of 'Jehovah' (mn"^) appended. 
The first of these theGr. of the Sept. 
represents by Avarj^ Ause, the other by 
hiaavfj Jesus. The Hebrew root of 
the name has the import of salvation, 
and from this the sense of Saviour 
has been transferred into the Greek 
Iriyjvg. Jcsus. In Neh. 8. 17, we have 
still another form ; 5?1Ii:"i yeshua, Je- 
shua, where the Gr. preserves the 
usual form l^ovg, Jesus. It was doubt- 
less from this current usage of the Sep- 
tuagint that the New Testament wri- 
ters have in two instances applied to 
Joshua the name of the Saviour, of 
whom he was undoubtedly an emi- 
nent type. The first is Acts 7. 45, 
' Which also our fathers, that came 
after, brought in \\Ai\\Jesus; i.e. Josh^ 
ua. The other is Heb. 4. 8, ' For if 
Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, 
then would he not afterward have spo- 
ken of another day.' This change of 
names, in the case of various Scrip- 
ture personages, appears to have been 
governed by a change of relations, 
either to God or to man, as in the 
case of Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, Dan- 
iel, Paul, and others. See Note on 
Gen. 17. 5. Of the manner of the 
communication nowmade to Joshua, 
we are not expressly informed. From 
the fact that Moses and Joshua, just 
before the death of the former, were 



summoned together into the ' taber- 
nacle of the congregation,' Deut. 31. 
14, that the dying charge of Moses 



migh^, be given to his successor, it 
seems highly probable that the in^- 
structions and encouragements im- 
parled on this occasion were deliv- 
ered from the same place. — — n Mo- 
ses minister. Heb. H^:^ niir?3 me- 
shdreth Mosheh, he that served, or 
mi?iisiered to, Moses. The original 
tl^lD sharath, to minister, is used 
with the accusative of the person 
ministered to, and is found for the 
most part in those connexions, where 
the service of God is spoken of, espe- 
cially that which was rendered by 
the Priests and Levites. Joshua was 
Moses' minister in the sense of an 
immediate attendant, one who waited 
upon his person, and assisted him in 
business ; one of whose services he 
availed himself in a variety of ways, 
as Elisha, of those of Gehazi. In 
Deut. 1. 38, it is expressed by a dif- 
ferent, but equivalent phrase 1?3S)n 
"["^D&i) haomed lepaneka, who standeth 
before thee, a usual mode of express- 
ing the idea of ministration. The 
word is rendered in some copies of 
the Greek, vTrspyog^ an under-worh 
man, in others, Bepdiroiv, one that waits^ 
attends wpon, ministers to. Previous 
to the death of Moses, Joshua had 
been specially designated to the of- 
fice which he is now called to as- 
sume, Deut. 1. 38; 31. 3, 6—8; and 
for which he was peculiarly qualified 
by his long familiarity with Moses, 
and by the training which he would 
naturally receive in the station occu- 
pied under him. An humble and 
devoted spirit, a willingness to serve 
God in the meanest employments, is 
the best preparative, and often the 
surest precursor to posts of honor 
and dignity in the church. Wher- 
ever this is the case, no previous 
lowness or obscurity of origin is, in 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER 1. 



15 



2 ^Moses my servant is dead ; ' 
now therefore arise, go over this 
Jordan, thou and all this people, 

b Deut. 34. 5. 

God's sight, an obstacle to advance- 
ment. Persons of this character are 
often surprised to look back, and see 
from what small beginnings they 
have been raised step by step, under 
the guidance of Providence, to sta- 
tions of the most extensive influence 
and usefulness. 

2. Moses my servant is dead. As 
Joshua was of course aware of the 
fact of Moses' decease, these words 
could not be intended merely to an- 
nounce to him that event. They are 
equivalent to saying, ' The death of 
my servant Moses has left the people 
without a leader and a head to con- 
duct them into the promised land. It 
is necessary that his place should be 
immediately filled. Thou hast been 
selected for that office, and the time 
has now come for thee to enter upon 
the active discharge of its duties. 
Arise therefore, and go at once about 
the work of thy high calling.' Proba- 
bly Joshua's deep sense of his own 
insufficiency and unworthiness, and 
of the many dangers and difficulties 
which encompassed his path, had 
caused him somewhat to despond 
and waver in spirit, and rendered 
necessary this direct and rousing 
summons, which, for the same rea- 
son, God was pleased to accompany 
with so many encouraging promises. 
When it is considered that Joshua 
was now ninety-three years of age, 
that he had to govern a very perverse 
and rebellious people, and was going 
to contend with a warlike and for- 
midable enemy, it will perhaps ap- 
pear, that nothing short of the divine 



unto the land which I do give 
to them, even to the children of 
Israel. 



assurance he now received, could 
have sustained his courage in such 

an arduous station. IT Go over this 

Jordan. This river, which you nov/ 
have in full view before you, and on 
the banks of which you are en* 
camped. For a description of the 
Jordan, see ' Illustrations of the Scrip- 
tures,' p. 20. It was doubtless a se- 
vere trial to Joshua's faith, to be thus 
called upon to make immediate pre- 
paration for crossing a river that was 
now overflowing its banks, chap. 3. 
15, and for getting over which he 
was totally unprovided with the ordi» 
nary means, whether of boats or 
bridges. But as God had given the 
command, he must not doubt that he 
would open a way for his people, 
though it should be by cleaving the 
waters and repeating the miracle 
witnessed at the Red Sea. It was as 
certain that they should be conducted 
over the Jordan, as it Avas that they 
should be led into Canaan, and to 
this the Most High had pledged him- 
self by the most solemn promises, 
renewed from age to age, from the 
time of Abraham down to that of 
Moses. With a ' thus saith the 
Lord ' for our warrant, we may boldly 
go forth in the face of obstacles that 
are absolutely insuperable to human 
power. TT Thou and all this peo- 
ple. That is, with the exception of 
Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of 
Manasseh, to whom was granted, at 
their o\\ti request, a possession on 
the eastern side of the Jordan, where 
ihey were now encamped, Num. 32. 
'IT Unto the land which I do give 



16 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



3 ''Every place that the sole 
of your foot shall tread upon, 
that have I given unto you, as I 
said unto Moses. 

c Deut. 11. 24. ch. 14. 9. 

io them. Heb. tini ^^3 '^^DlDli^ ^ID5< 
asher anoki notJten lahem^ lohich I am 
giving to tJwm. That is, the land of 
which I have long promised them the 
inheritance, and of which I am now 
in the very act of putting them in 
possession. Though the promises of 
God may be slow in fulfilling, yel 
the accomplishment will come at 
last ; not one jot or tittle shall fail. 
Though 'the vision be for an ap- 
pointed time, yet at the end it shall 
speak, it shall not lie ; though it tar- 
ry, wait for it ; because it will surely 
come, it will not tarry.' 

3. Every place that the sole of your 
foot shall tread upon. That is, every 
place within the limits specified in 
the ensuing verse. The expression 
in this, as in innumerable olher ca- 
ses, must be qualified by the connex- 
ion. The extent of the grant is more 
expressly defined in the striking par- 
allel passage, Deut. 11. 24, 'Every 
place whereon the soles of your leet 
shall tread, shall be yours ; from the 
wilderness and Lebanon, from the 
river, the river Euphrates, even un:o 
the uttermost sea, shall your coast 
be.' It is to these w^ords spoken to 
Moses that allusion is made in the 
next clause. Indeed, nearly every 
sentence in this address to Joshua, 
occurs somewhere in the course of 
the foregoing history, especially in 
the book of Deuteronomy. 

4. From the vnlderness. <^^c. God 
here proc^eeds, in very brief terms, to 
mark out and define the boundaries 
of the land of promise. Its utmost 



4 '^From the wilderness and 
thia Lebanon even unto the 
great river, the river Euphrates, 
all the land of the Hittites, and 

a Gen. 15. 18. Exod. 23. 31. Num. 2A. 3-12, 

« ..„ ■-. 

limits should be from the wilderness 
of Sin, or the desert of Arabia Pe- 
trsea on the South, to Lebanon on the 
North; and from the Euphrates on 
the East, to the great sea. or the Me- 
diterranean, on the West. The Isra- 
elites did not indeed possess the full 
extent of this grant until the time of 
David; but their failure to do so was 
owing entirely to their own remiss- 
ness, unbelief and disobedience, as 
was every reverse with which they 
met during the whole period of their 
history. They were not straitened 
in God, but in themselves ; and the 
same remark holds good with regard 

to his people in all ages. IT Aiid 

this Lebanon. That is, unto this 
Lebanon, which was the boundary 
opposite to that of the wilderness. See 
Note on Deut. 11. ^. The moun- 
tain range is thus particularized be- 
cause it could doubiless be seen from 
the spot where Joshua now stood, 
rearing its lofty summits towards the 
clouds in the northern extremity of 
Canaan. For an account of this well- 
known range of mountains, any of 
the various works in sacred geogra- 
phy maybe consulted. See also ' Il- 
lustrations of the Scriptures/ p. 103. 
The name ' Lebanon ' comes from 
the Heb. root ^!2D laban, v'hite, from 
its summits' being so constantly cov- 
ered with snow. IT All the land of 

the Hittites. This clause is wanting 
in the Gr. version of the lxx and in 
the A r? bic it is rendered upon i. e. be- 
yond) the land of the Hittites. But as 
nothing is known tending to invali- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER I. 



17 



unto the great sea toward the 
going down of the sun, shall be 
your coast. 

date the reading of the text, we must 
presume it to be genuine, and leave 
it undisturbed. It is not the name 
of a region lying without the limits 
above specified, or of a country pro- 
mised in addition to that which had 
been so long assigned, in the divine 
purpose, to Israel, but it was one of 
the seven nations of Canaan, so often 
alluded to in the books of Moses, and 
here probably mentioned by synecdo- 
che, a figure of speech by which a 
part is put for the whole. In like 
manner, in other instances, the nation 
of the Amori^es stands for the whole 
of the Canaanitish people. As a rea- 
son for the particular mention of the 
HittiLes here, rather than any other 
of the devoted nations, it may be re- 
marked, that it appears from the trans- 
action of Abraham with the sons of 
Heih, or the Hittites, (Gen. 23,) that 
they inhabited the southern borders 
of the land about the region of Beer- 
sheba and Hebron^ w^here subse- 
quently the spies saw the gigantic 
Anakims, who inspired them with so 
much terror. It was natural, there- 
fore, that they should regard these 
people as the most formidable ene- 
mies whom they would be likely to 
encounter, and equally natural that 
God, in assuring them of the com- 
plete conquest of all these nations, 
should specify that one which more 
than all others they dreaded. He 
would thus banish their fears where 
they would be most certain to rise, 
and by promising them a victory, 
where they might apprehend a defeat, 
inspire them with unwavering confi- 
dence of success in contending with 
2# 



5 ' There shall not any man be 
able to stand before thee all the 



e Deut. 7. 24. 



all the rest of their enemies. fl The 

great sea. The Mediterranean ; so 
called as being the greatest in the vi- 
cinity of the land of promise, the 
greatest w^ith which the Kraelites 
were acquainted, and especially so 
termed in respect to the smaller seas 
in Judea, such as the sea of Gennes- 
aret or Tiberias, and the Dead Sea, 
which were comparatively vie re lakes. 
The Hebrews, however, were accus- 
tomed to give the name of D'^?/<z?7i, sea, 
to every large collection of waters. 

fr Toward the goiiig down of the 

sun. Heb. "IJ^j'L'n ^^2)2 mebo hashshe- 
mesh^ lit. the going in of the sun. The 
Heb. usage is to speak of the sun's 
going in instead of setting^ as is com- 
mon with us. According to the usual 
analogy of rendering adopted by our 
version, the word toioard should be 
printed in Italics, as there is nothing 
to answer to it in the original. So 

also in v. 15. IT Shall be your coast. 

Your border, your boundary, your 
limits. Thus Mat. 2. 16,"^' Then 
Herod sent forth, and slew all the 
children that were in Bethlehem, and 
in all the coasts thereof ;^ i. e. in all 
the region or territory bordering upon 
it. Such also is the import of the 
word coast^ as used by some of the 
early English writers. 

5. There shall not any man be able 
to stand before thee. Heb. '2'2^t\'^ ^)i 
tD'^i^ lo yithyatztzeb ish, a man shall 
not plant or station himself. The form 
of the sentence in our version ' shall 
not be able to stand ' com^ s frcm the 
Lat. Vulg.^ which has 'nullus pote- 
rit vobis resistere.' The Gr. has ovk 
avTiarTfiasTai) shall 71 ot resist. But the 



18 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



days of thy life : ^as I was with 
Moses, so ^l will be with thee : 

f Exod. 3. 12. ff Deut. 31. 8. 23. ver. 9, 
17. ch. 3. 7. and 6. 27. Isai. 43. 2, 5. 

idea expressed in our version no 
doubt correctly represents the sense 
of the original, ^vhich is not so 
much to deny the fact that opposi- 
tion would be made to Joshua and 
the Israelites, for we know that their 
enemies did often ' plant themselves ' 
against them, but rather to assert the 
mobility of their adversaries to make 
any successful resistance. No man 
shall be able effectually to withstand 
thee, to maintain his groimd before 
thee, or to throw any serious obstacle 
in thy way. Joshua is, however, ad- 
monished that his sufficiency was not 
of himself It was solely in conse- 
quence of God^ bthig iciih him, up- 
holding and prospering him, as he 
did Moses, that he was to be rendered 
thui invincible. Those that con- 
tended with him were contending 
with omnipotence, and in this une- 
qual contest they must necessarily be 
worsted. ' If God be for us who can 
be against us V What Joshua had 
himself on another occasion, said to 
e ^courage the people, Num. 14. 9, 
God now says to him. This signal 
success, moreover, was not only to 
mark the commencement of his en- 
terprises but to attend him throughout 
his whole career. However it might 
be wiih Israel when he was gone, yet 
during his 1 iV-time he should be fa- 
vored w4ih a constant tide of tri- 
umphs. If it be asked how this as- 
surance consists with the fact, that 
ho met with such a serious repulse in 
one of his earliest expeditions, and 
that so many thousands of Israel 
were smitten and turned their backs 



^ I will not fail thee nor forsak« 
thee. 

h Deuf 31. 6, 8. Hebr. 13. 5. 



before the men of Ai, the answer is 
that they failed in the conditions on 
which the promises of victory were 
suspended. These promises were 
not absolute. They were made with 
a proviso. They were to be fulfilled 
on conditionof the implicit faith and 
obedience of the people, with the per- 
fect understanding, at the same time, 
that God's grace was sufficient for 
them, and that if they sought him 
sincerely, they should never fail tore- 
ceive an adequate measure of ability 
to enable them to comply with these 
conditions. On the occasion alluded 
to, they had grossly failed in duty, 
they had sinned and transgressed the 
covenant and were therefore smitten 
before the enemy, * because they 
were accursed,' i. e. laboring under 
the Divine displeasure. Josh. 7. 1*2. 

IF As I was with Moses, so I v:ill 

be w'iih thee. Chal. ' As my Word 
was for Moses' help, so shall my 

Word be for thy help.' ^ 1 will 

71 ot fail thee 7ior forsake thee. Heb. 
^5*i5^ 5<i lo arpeka. The original 
term here rendered ' fail ' properly 
signifies to let sink, to let gr&io slack 
and fall down, being generally spo- 
ken of the hands, and implying a 
loosing or rel'ixing of one's grasp, 
and the consequent falling down of 
the hands, as in Josh. 10. 6, ' Slack 
not thy hands ("^T^ t\^ri ^^ al te- 
reph yadcka) from thy servants.' It 
has a meanmg directly opposite to 
that of the word for laying a frv- hold, 
taking a vigorous grasp of any thing 
The other is the usual word for leave, 
forsake, abandon. The sense clearly 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER I. 



19 



6 'Be strong and of a good 
courage : for unto this people 

i Deut. 31. 7, 23. 



is, that God would keep firm hold of 
his servant, would not let go of him, 
would not resign hhiiup to the power 
of his enemies. Moses had before 
givon to Joshua the same assurance, 
couched almost in the express words 
of this passage, Deut. 31. 6-8; and 
here God is pleased, in accordance 
wiih the diameter which he else- 
where gives of himself, Is. 44. 26, 
to 'conhrm the word of his servant,' 
and engages never to leave or be 
warning to Joshua. 

6. Be strong and of a good cour- 
age. Heb. f ?-J!<1 pTH hazak ve- 
ematz, Gr. tV^^us /cat dv6pi(^ov^ be 
strong and act the man. The orig- 
inal terms, chough nearly related, 
are not precisely synonymous with 
each oLher. They both occur, though 
under slightly diflerent forms. Is. 
35. 3 : ' Strengthen ye (IpVn hazzeku) 
the weak hands and confirm (12?2&^ 
ammetzu) the feeble knees,' from 
which and from other passages, it is 
inferred that the first, ' be strong,' 
properly implies that strength which 
is in the hands for grasping and 
holding firmly any thing, while the 
latter points primarily to the strength 
of the knees in steadfastly maintain- 
ing one's position, and withstand- 
ing every aggressive assault of the 
enemy. From this view of the pri- 
mary and literal acceptation of the 
words, we obtain a better idea of 
their import when applied metaphor- 
ically, as here, to the acts of the mind. 
They imply the utmost degree of 
vigorous and determined action, a 
spirit and energy directly the reverse 
of every thing imbecile and pusillan- 



shalt thou divide for an inherit- 
ance the land which I sware 
unto their fathers to give them. 

imous. IT Unto this people shalt 

thou divide for an inheritance the 
land.. Heb. jD'TlDn tanhll^ thou shalt 
cause to inherit. Which supposes the 
previous entire conquest of the land ; 
and in this respect a higher degree 
of honor was vouchsafed to Joshua 
than to MoseSj for he was onl}^ per- 
mitted to conduct Israel through the 
wilderness, and bring them to the 
borders of the promised land, while 
Joshua had the glory of actually tak- 
ing possession of, and distributing 
the land to his people as an inherit- 
ance. God is pleased, therefore, to 
make known to him his purposes 
concerning him, as a reason for his 
assuming all that strength and cour- 
age which he now enjoins upon him. 
Compare the parallel passage, Deut. 
1. 37. 38 : ' Also the Lord was angry 
with me, for your sakes, saying. 
Thou also shalt not go in thi.her. 
But Joshua the son of Nun, which 
standeth before thee, he shall go in 
thither. Encourage him : for he 
shall cause Israel to inherit it.' This 
'encouragement' which Moses was 
to give to Joshua we find embodied 
in his farewell address, Deut. 31. 
7, 8, 23 : ' And Moses called unto 
Joshua, and said unto him in the 
sight of all Israel, Be strong and of 
a good courage : for thou must go 
with this people unto the land which 
the Lord hath sworn un o their 
fathers to give them ; and thou shalt 
cause them to inherit it. i^nd the 
Lord, he it is that doth go before 
thee ; he will be with thee, he will 
not fail thee, neither forsake thee * 
fear net, neither be dismayed. And 



20 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



7 Only be thou strong and 
very courageous, that thou 
mayest observe to do according 
to all the law ''which Moses 

k Numb. 27. 23. Deut. 31. 7. ch. 11. 15. 



he gave Joshua the son of Nun a 
charge, and jaid, Be strong and of a 
good courage : for thou shalt bring 
the cliildren of Israel into the land 
which I sware unto them : and I 
will be with thee.' The Most High, 
therefore, in these Vv^ords emphati- 
cally reminds Joshua of the solemn 
charge which Moses had given him. 
God will not fail to adopt and enforce 
as his own those commands which 
are uttered by his servants in accord- 
ance with his will. 

7. Only he thou strong and very 
courageo2is. The Heb. term here 
employed p^ rak, ordy, clearly indi- 
cates that a condition is stated on 
which the promise of the foregoing 
verse shall be made good. This 
condition is the constant and rigid 
observance of the Divine command, 
an inflexible firmness in adhering to 
that code of precepts contained in the 
law of Moses, This he was inces- 
santly to make the man of his coun- 
sel and the theme of his daily and 
nightly study. It was in this respect 
mainly that his courage and fortitude 
were to be evinced. A steadfast 
obedience to the mandates of Jeho- 
vah would require a stronger princi- 
ple of courage, than his anticipated 
conflicts with the most formidable 
enemies. The important lesson 
which Ave hence learn is, that in 
nothing is there more scope for the 
display of the highest moral heroism 
than in daring, in all circumstances, 
to cleave steadfastly to the word of 
God as the rule of our conduct. It 



my servant commanded thee ; 
4urn not from it to the rioht 
or to the left, that thou mayest 

I Deut. 5. 32, and 28. 14. 

is in this chiefly that the fortitude of 
the Christian soldier is to evince 
itself He is not only to fight, but to 
' fight lawfully,' that is, in conform- 
ity to that system of Divine instruc- 
tions contained in the Scriptures. 
From this he is never to deviate, nor 
to turn away his eyes. However 
difficult or self-denying its injunc- 
tions, he must obey them, and rather 
die than depart from them In so 
doing he will find the promises ful- 
filled, and the Divine blessings im- 
parted as truly and as signally as did 
Joshua himself in his arduous war- 
fare. ^ Which Moses my servant 

commanded thee. The particular 
commands of Moses here referred to 
are to be found in Deut. 5. 32 ; 28. 14, 
and 31. 7, 8 ; and though originally 
delivered to all the congregation, yet 
here they are especially applied to 
Joshua, who, as leader, stood as the 
representative of the whole collective 

body of the people. If Turn not 

from it to the right hand or to the 
left. Heb. ^'2)212 iTOn "^^ al tasur 
mtmmenu^ turn not from him ; i. e. 
from Moses ; where his person stands 
for his writings. So our Saviour 
says, ' If they hear not Moses and th'e 
prophets,' i. e, the words of Moses. 
The metaphor is taken from a man's 
pursuing a journey, who goes straight 
forward in the direct road, if he 
knows it, without turning aside into 
by-paths that lead he knoAvs not whi- 
ther. ^ That ihov r ay est prosper. 

Or, Heb. i^^iDUrn tashkil, mayest do 
wisely J mayest deal or behave under^ 



B. C 1451.] 



CHAPTER I. 



21 



prosper 
goest 



whithersoever thou 



standingly. The primary and most 
usual sense of the original is, to direct 
one's self wisely^ to act with prudence 
and discretion^ to be wise^ intelligent^ 
and thence secondarily, to prosper, to 
have good success. Thus 1 Sam. 
18. 14, ' And David behaved himself 
wisely (i"^i'iZ;?3 mashkll) in all his 
ways ; and the Lord was with him.' 
These two senses of the word are so 
intimately connected, that it is often 
difficult to determine precisely which 
of them is intended in a given pas- 
sage. This very uncertainty, how- 
ever, proves it to be clearly intima- 
ted, in the native import of the term, 
that real prosperity and success in the 
afiairs of life, is the result of a wise, 
discreet, and prudent course of con- 
duct, and inseparable from it, and 
that it is vain to look for it from any 
other source. Those only can rea- 
sonably expect the blessing of God 
upon their temporal afiairs, who 
make his word their rule, and con- 
scientiously walk by it in all circum- 
stances ; and this is the way of true 
wisdom. 

8. This book of the laio. That is, 
by way of emphasis, ' the book of the 
law,' the law of Moses, to which, as 
he well knew, God attached the 
utmost importance, and of which he 
speaks as if it were at that moment 
in Joshua's hand, or at his side, as it 

continually ought to be. IF Shall 

not depart out of thy mouth. Thou 
shalr, constantly read and ponder it ; 
it shall incessantly employ thy lips ; 
thoushalt have thy heart so constant- 
ly imbued with its letter and spirit, 
that thy mouth shall, as it were, 



8 "" This book of the law shall 
not depart out of thy mouth; 



ra Deut. 17. 18, 19. 



overflow with its rich contents, as 
' out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh.' The same 
phrase occurs but once elsewhere in 
the Scriptures, Is. 59. 21. ' As for 
me, this is my covenant with them, 
saith the Lord. My spirit that is 
upon thee and my words which I 
have put in thy mouth, shall not de- 
part out of thy mouth, nor out of the 
mouth of thy seed, nor out of the 
mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the 
Lord, from henceforih and forever;' 
where it is implied that the covenant 
promise should be deemed so pre- 
cious, that it should be a perpetual 
theme of meditation and discourse ; 
that it should constantly dwell on the 
tongues of those interested in it. It 
is moreover implied, in this charge 
to Joshua, that he was not only to 
make the book of the law the subject 
of assiduous study for his own per- 
sonal benefit, but also to make it the 
sole rule and standard of all his pub- 
lic and official proceedings ; he was 
to issue orders and pronounce judg- 
ments according to its precepts, and 
that too without exception or reserve 
— he must ' do according to all that 
is written therein.' Though appoint- 
ed to the rank of supreme head and 
magistrate of the nation, he was not 
to consider himself elevated in the 
slightest degree above the authority 
of the Divine law, or the necessity 
of consulting it; nor should any 
Christian magistrate at this day con- 
sider himself at liberty to dispense 
with the light which beams from the 
word of God, in regard to the great 
matters of his duty. The higher any 



2^ 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451, 



but ° thou shalt meditate therein 
day and night, that thou mayest 
observe to do according to all 
that is written therein : for then 
thou shalt make thy way pros- 
perous, and then thou shalt have 
good success. 
9 °Have not I commanded 

n Ps. 1. 2. 

man is raised in office, the more need 
has he of an acquaintance with the 
sacred oracles, and the better will he 
be qualified by the study of them for 
the discharge of his arduous duties. 

IT Thou shall meditate therein day 

and night. This is the character of 
the good man as described by the 
Psalmist, Ps. 1. 2, in words which 
are almost an exact transcript of those 
here employed. The Heb. term for 
* meditate,' (tl^n hagah) implies that 
kind of mental rumination which is 
apt to vent itself in an audible sound 
of the voice. See my Comment, on 
Ps. 1. 2. IF Make thy way prosper- 
ous — have good success. Two differ- 
ent words are here employed, the 
latter of which is the same with that 
remarked upon above, v. 7, and 
which should probably be rendered 
here also, ' do wisely,' ' conduct un- 
derstandingly,'as otherwise it Is little, 
if any thing, more than a bare repe- 
tition of the preceding phrase. The 
Arab, renders it, and thy ways shall 
be directed. 

9. Have not I commanded thee? 
I, whose authority is paramount, 
whose power is infinite ; who am able 
to carry thee through all difficulties 
and dangers, and whom thou art 
bound implicitly to obey. So in the 
Christian warfare, it is the God of 
heaven whose battles we fight, and 
in whose service we are engaged. 



thee ? Be strong and of a good 
courage ; ^be not afraid, neither 
be thou dismayed : for the Lord 
thy God is with thee whitherso- 
ever thou goest. 

10 TT Then Joshua commanded 
the officers of the people, saying, 

Deut. 31. 7, 8, 23. p Ps. 27. 1. Jer, 1. 8. 

Were it only an earthly monarch to 
whom w^e had devoted ourselves, we 
ought to serve him with all fidelity j 
what then should we not do for the 
King of kings, who has not only 
chosen us to be his soldiers, but has 
himself taken the field for our sakes, 
to subdue our enemies, and to de- 
liver us from their assaults 1 — It 
should be remarked, that the interro- 
gative form of speech is often used, 
not as implying any thing doubtful, 
but as the most emphatic mode of ex- 
pressing either a negation or affirm- 
ation, particularly when the speaker 
washes to rouse and excite strongly 
the attention of the hearer. Instances 

are innumerable. IT The Lord thy 

God is with thee. Here is somewhat 
of -a remarkable change in the per- 
sons, from the first to the third, but 
whether with any peculiar signifi- 
cancy it is not easy to determine. 
The Chaldee renders it in reference 
to the Son, ' The Word of the Lord 
thy God shall be with thee.' Con- 
sidered as a pledge of the presence 
and support of the God of heaven 
with all his faithful people, in their 
trials and conflicts, the promise is 
full of precious meaning. He says 
to us, in efl^ect, what he says to 
Joshua ; and what encouragement 
can we desire more 1 

10. Commanded the officers of the 
people. Heb. t^'ntO"'!: s^t?^mm. These 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER I. 



23 



11 Pass through the host and 
command the people, saying, 



Prepare you victuals ; for '^ with- 
in three days ye shall pass over 

q ch. 3. 2. See Deut. 9. 1, and 11. 31. 



they had entered the land of Canaan, 
and eaten of the old corn of the land, 

ch. 5. 12. IT Within three days. 

Heb. tl^?2"' niriiz: niyn loithln unto 
three days. The exact import of the 
Hebrew is not easily determined, and 
it is variously rendered in the 



were under-ofhcers, subordinate to 
the ^""135'^^ shophetim or jtcdges, whose 
duty it was to see to the execution of 
the orders of the heads of the people, 
whether Moses, Joshua, or his suc- 
cessors the Judges. Deut. 16. 18 ; 20. 

5 — 9. The original is usually ren- \ it is variously renaerea m tne ver- 
dered ypanuareig, scribes, in the Gr. j sions. The Chal. which Kimchi ap- 
version. See Note on Ex. 5. 6, where ' proves, has ' at the end of three days ;' 
the import of C">^t5"L' shoterirnis more i the Lat. Vulg. ' post triduum,' after 
fully discussed. three days ; Luth. ' uber drei Tage,' 

11. Prepare you victuals. The over three days. The prevailing 
Heb. term m!ir tzedah, prey, from | sense of 115?, denoting time not yet 
^l'2tzTid to Mint, primarily and prop- \ elapsed, favors the rendering in our 
erly denotes that which is taken in : version, but Winer and others sup- 
hunting. But the usage in several pose the phrase will admit the sense 
places proves that it is taken with i of three days complete. The proba- 
more latitude, and implies proxisioiis ■ bility we think is, that the passage 
in general. In the present instance | over the Jordan was not made till af- 
it doubtless refers somewhat widely ' ter the lapse of three days, and that 
to the subsistence, technically termed it took place on the fourth : the three 



viuticum, such as the corn, oxen, 
sheep, &c., which they were now 



days, therefore, here mentioned, are 
to be reckoned exclusive of that on 



enabled to obtain in the more inhab- which the proclamation was made 



ited region which they had reached. 
For although the manna was their 
main dependence during their so- 
journ in the wilderness, yet they do 
not appear to have been forbidden to 
supply themselves with other kinds 
of food when they had an opportuni- 
ty, Deut. 2. 6, 28 ; and at this time, 
when they had come into a land in- 
habited, where they could procure 



ch. 2. 22 ; 3. 1. Or, as the original 
for ' shall pass,' is literally ' shall be 
passing,' it may mean simply, that 
within the space of three days they 
should have broken up from their 
present encampment, and commenced 
their march, although the actual pas- 
sage of the Jordan may not have oc- 
curred till a day or two afterwards. 
The confidence with which Joshua 



such provisions, it is probable that | speaks of the event, shows the un- 
the manna did not fall so plentifully, I doubting character of his own faith 



or they did not gather so much as 
previously, so that they were now 
commanded to lay in a store of other 



Augustin 



in the promise of God. 

thinks that Joshua acted too much on 

his own responsibility in fixing the 



eatables to supply the deficiency. I definite period of three days for pass- 
Certain it is, however, that the man- ! ing tlie river. But it is not to be 
na did not entirely cease falling till ! supposed that he would order a step 



S4 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



this Jordan, to go in to possess 
the land which the Lord your 
God giveth you to possess it. 

13 IT And to the Reubenites, 
and to the Gadites, and to half 
the tribe of Manasseh, spake 
Joshua, saying, 



of this nature without being prompt- 
ed by Divine dictation. This was no 
doubt a part of the instructions now 
given him, though not expressly re- 
corded. IT Which the Lord your 

God giveth you. Heb. "pi nothe7i, is 
giving ; i. e. is even now in the act 
of giving. It w^ould tend greatly to 
animate the faith and zeal of the 
people, and to secure their vigorous 
co-operation, to see God, as it were, 
girding himself to the work, and act- 
ually putting forth his power in the 
execution of his promises. It would 
not do for them to be remiss when 
omnipotence was visibly engaged in 
their behalf. This language would 
teach them too that the result was not 
to be brought about by their own 
strength^ and, consequently, that they 
could not take the glory of it to them- 
selves. IT To possess it. Heb. 

nri^li lerishtah, to inherit it; i. e. 
not only to occupy it as something 
which had happened to come into 
their possession, but deriving their 
right from the grant of the Supreme 
Proprietor of heaven and earth, to 
enter upon as if they had received it 
by inheritance from their forefathers. 
Viewed in this light the language is 
peculiarly expressive. 

12. To the Reubenites, and to the 
Gadites. Heb. ^135l ^Dlnii^^^l vela- 
rubeni velaggadi, to the Revbenite, 
and to the Gadite ; the collective sin- 
gular for the plural, a very common 



1 3 Remember 'the word which 
Moses the servant of the Lord 
commanded you, saying. The 
Lord your God hath given you 
rest, and hath given you this 
land. 

r Num. 32. 20-28. ch. 22. 2, 3, 4. 



idiom of the original, particularly in 
speaking of tribes and nations ; as if 
the whole body, from their intimate 
union, were regarded as one person. 
This is a peculiarity of the Heb. lan- 
guage, which is of almost incessant 
occurrence, and as it necessarily es- 
capes the notice of the English read- 
er, though in many cases important 
to be known, we shall usually indi 
cate it wherever met with. IT Re- 
member the word which Moses, <^c. 
This engagement on the part of the 
two tribes and a half, is detailed with 
all the circumstances attending it, 
Num. 32. 1—42 ; and it was proper 
here to remind them of it, as, other- 
wise, having arrived at the place of 
their settlement, they might be in- 
duced to seek their own ease, by re- 
maining with their wives and fami- 
lies in the rich and fertile region of 
which they had come into possession. 
IT The Lord your God hath given 



you rest. The two tribes and a half 
had already received their posses- 
sions on the East of Jordan, as we 
learn from Num. 32. 33. These pre- 
cise words do not occur in the ad- 
dress of Moses to the two tribes and 
a half, but the sense of them does, 
and Joshua intended, doubtless, mere- 
ly to quote the substance of what Mo- 
ses said. The phrase -hath given 
you rest,' perhaps merely implies that 
they were now brought to a place of 
rest, rather than a positive state of 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER L 



25 



14 Your wives, your little 
ones, and your cattle shall re- 
main in the land which Moses 
gave you on this side Jordan ; 
but ye shall pass before your 
brethren ' armed, all the mighty 
men of valor, and help them ; 

15 Until the Lord have given 
your brethren rest, as Ae hath giv- 

sExod. 13. IS. 

rest, which they could hardly be said 
to enjoy till they had subdued their 
enemies. They were at rest, hov\'- 
ever, in contradistinction from jour- 
neying', and in this sense the original 
word is often employed. 

14. Your 2civeSj your Utile ones, 
(f*c., Heb. DlD&tD tappekem, your babe, 

collect, sing, for plural. IT Ye shall 

pass before your brethren. That is, 
as the original implies, ye shall pass 
or cross over before, or in the presence 
of, your brethren. It does not appear 
to signify that they should take the 
front rank or lead the van, for such 
an intimation respecting them is no 
where else clearly given ; but simply 
that they should not absent them- 
selves ; that they should be present 
with their brethren, united Vv-ith them 
in the expedition. The Heb. phrase 
is often used in this sense. ^Arm- 
ed. Heb. t'^I2;?2n k/mashim, mar- 
shalled by five. Of the import of this 
expression, see Note on Ex. 13. 18, 

where it is rendered harnessed, 

^All the mighty men of valor. Not 
absolutely all the lighting men of 
these tribes, but the choice of them, 
the most active, bold and ener- 
getic; for as there were only forty 
thousand of them that passed over, 
ch. 4. 13, while the whole number of 
warriors was far greater. Num. 26, 
it is evident that a large body of them 



en you, and they also have pos~- 
sessed the land which the Lord 
your God giveth them : ^ then 
ye shall return unto the land of 
your possession, and enjoy it, 
which Moses the Lord's ser- 
vant gave you on this side Jor- 
dan teward the sun-rising. 
1 6 IT And they answered Josh- 

t cli. 22. 4, &c. 

must have remained on the other 
side of the Jordan, to take care of the 
women, children, and flocks. Proba- 
bly as many at least as seventy thou- 
sand, as the sum total of the men in 
those tribes able to bear arms was 
upwards of one hundred and ten 
thousand. See Num, 2a 1, 18, 37. 

15. Until the Lord have given your 
brethren rest, o.s he hath given you. 
That is, until he hath brought them 
to their place of rest ; for it could not 
striclly be said of either company, 
that the Lord had given them rest, 
until they had so far conquered their 
enemies as to be in no danger of be- 
ing henceforth seriously molested by 
them. But that was, at this time, by 
no means the case with the two tribes 
and a half, nor have we reason to 
suppose, in respect to the others, that 
the mere putting them in possession 
of the promised territory would be 
' giving them rest,' as long as their 
enemies remained in great numbers 
unsubdued. We are led therefore to 
understand from this expression, sim- 
ply the bringing them to, or planting 
them in, a place of rest The actual 
enjoyment of the rest was a matter of 

subsequent favor. ^ Toward the 

sun-rising. The East ; as ' toward 
the going down of the sun,' signifies 
the West. 

16. And they answered Joshuas 



26 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



ua saying. All that thou com- 
nmndest us, we will do, and 
whithersoever thou sendest us, 
we will go. 

17 According as we hearkened 
unto Moses in all things, so will 



This, as some conceive, was not the 
answer of the two tribes and a half 
only, but the response of the whole 
host, w4io thus concurred heartily 
with them in their solemn engage- 
ments. It is not unlikely that such 
were the real sentiments of the entire 
congregation ; but it seems more nat- 
ural, from the connexion, to -under- 
stand it of those who were directly 
addressed. They afterwards received 
the testimony of Joshua, as having 
fully complied with all their stipula- 
tions, ch. 22. 2-4. IF All that thou 

commandest us we will do^ &c. Thus 
are we required to swear allegiance 
to Christ, the Captain of our salva- 
tion, the Christian's Joshua, and to 
bind ourselves to do what he com- 
mands us by his word, and to go 
wheresoever he sends us by his provi- 
dence. 

17. According a% we hearkened \inio 
Moses^ &c. As we obeyed Moses. 
Nothing is more common than this 
sense of the word ' hearken ' in the 
sacred writers. If it be asked, bow 
this language is to be recor.ciled with 
the declaration of Moses himself in 
regard to their conduct under him, 
Deut. 9. 24, ' Ye have been rebellious 
against the Lord from the day that I 
knew you,' we answer, that neither 
the words of Moses, nor of the peo- 
ple, are to be understood as holding 
good universally^ and without any ex- 
ception. They were sometimes re- 
bellious, and sometimes obedient. 



we hearken unto thee : only the 
Lord thy God " be with thee, as 
he was with Moses. 

18 Whosoever he be that doth 
rebel against thy commandment , 
and will not hearken unto thy 

u ver. 5. 1 Sam. 20. 13. 1 KinjTS 1. 37. 



What they mean is, that they would 
be as obedient to Joshua as they ever 
were to Moses, ichcn they did obey 
him, when they were in their best 
moods ; as obedient, in fact, as they 
should have been to Moses, and as 
many of them generally were. The 
literal rendering of the original is, 
' According to all (in) which we 
hearkened to Moses, fo will we hear- 
ken to thee.' This perhaps limits 
the point of comparison to those ca- 
ses in which they were actually obe- 
dient^ and excludes tho^e in which 

they rebelled. IF Only the Lord 

thy God be with thee^ Slc. Chal. 
' The Word of the Lord thy God be 
for thy help, as he was for the help 
of Moses,' &c. This is not to be un- 
derstood as a condition, or limitation 
of their promised obedience, as if 
they should say, ' We will obey thee 
as far as we perceive the Lord is with 
thee, but no farther,' but rather as an 
earnest prayer in behalf of Joshua, 
that he might constantly enjoy the Di- 
vine guidance, protection, and bless- 
ing; q. d. 'Do not fear for us. Be 
assured of our constant obedience. 
Be solicitous mainl}^ for thyself This 
is the matter of our anxiety, that the 
Lord would be with thee, and pros- 
per thee in all things.' To pray fer- 
vently for those in authority over us, 
is the surest way to render them 
blessings to us and to the communi- 
ties in which we live. 

18. That doth rebel against thy 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER II. 



27 



words in all that thou com- 
mandest him, he shall be put to 
death : only be strong and of a 
good courage. 



commandment. Heb. Tii^ r\^)2^ *yL^ 
^*^D asher yamreh eth pika, that doth 
rebel {against) thy mouth; i. e. the 
word Ox commandment of thy mouth. 
Perhaps in this they had an eye to 
what Mo?es had said respecting the 
Lord's raising up a prophet like unto 
himself, and to whose word they 
were to hearken under the severest 
penalty, Deut. 18. 18, 19. They might 
have supposed this prediction lo be 
fulfilled in the appointment of Joshua 
as Moses' successor, without know- 
ing, at the same time, but that it 
might have an ulterior fulfilment at 
some subsequent period, in a yet 
more illustrious personage. ^On- 
ly be strong and of good courage. The 
original for ' only ' (p"^ rak) might 
perhaps be better rendered ' there- 
fore,' as it undoubtedly means, ch. 
13. 6, vvhen speaking of the land that 
remained to be possessed. God 
promises to drive out the inhabitants, 
and therefore commands Joshua to 
divide it to the Israelites for an in- 
heritance. 



A 



CHAPTER II. 

ND Joshua the son of Nun 
sent '' out of Shittim two 

a Num. 25. 1. 



CHAPTER II. 

1. And Joshua the son of Nun sent, 
(^c. Or, Heb. nV^^I vu-yishlah, 
had sent. The original will well 
admit of this rendering, and it is 
adopted by the current of commen- 
tators. Luther's translation is very 
express in this sense; 'But Joshua 
the son of Nun had previously sent 
spies,' &c. And this seems, on the 
whole, the most probable construc- 
tion. Nothing is more frequent in 
the sacred writings than such trans- 



positions (technically termed hyster- 
alogy), so that interpreters hav^e felt 
warranted to state as a general canon, 
that there is no certain order^ no form- 
er nor latter, in the histories of the 
Scripture. Masius contends that the 
whole series of events mentioned in 
this chapter occurred prior to the order 
given by Joshua, ch. 1. 10, for pro- 
viding food and getting ready to cross 
the Jordan within three days. But 
even if this view be admitted, it is 
som^ewhat difficult to determine the 
precise date of the sending forth of 
the spies. Each of the following sup- 
posiJonshasits advocates. (1.) The 
spies were dispatched and returned 
10 the camp before the order, ch. 
1. 10, was issued. The objection 
which Schmid brings to this is, that 
it would suppose Joshua to hav^e 
ac'.ed in this matter without Divine 
direction : for there is no hint in the 
narrative of his having receiv^ed any 
express intimation relative to his 
movements prior to the instructions 
given in the first chapter, and it is 
quite improbable that Joshua would 
have decided upon such a step upon 
his own responsibility. He, there- 
fore, with many others, adopts the 
following alternative. (2.) On the 
morning of the same day on which 
the breaking up of the encampment 
is announced, Joshua sends forth the 
spies. This he did in obedience to 
a Divine suggestion, which, though 
not recorded, is, like many other 
things, to be inferred from the exe- 
cution. The spies came to Jericho 
in the afternoon of the same day, 



28 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



which the distance, according to Jo- 
sephus, would well admit, and in- 
tended to lodge with Rahab that 
night. But being alarmed on account 
of the search ordered by the king of 
Jericho, they fled to the mountains 
the same evening, and remained there 
in concealment that night and the 
whole of the next day, and in the 
early part of the third day returned 
to the camp east of the Jordan. It is 
indeed said, v. 22, that they ' abode 
three days ' in the mountains ; but 
this may properly be understood of 
one whole day, and parts of two 
others, as is evident from the case of 
our Saviour, who is said to have 
lain three days in the earth, Mat. 
27. 63, which is obviously to be un- 
derstood in the same way. Comp. 
Mat. 12. 40. If this be the right ex- 
planation, Joshua may be supposed 
to have commenced his march on 
the evening of the third day, or on 
the morning of the fourth, and still 
have accomplished his purpose of 
setting out within the time specified, 
as we have already remarked that 
the phrase * within three days ' may 
imply the period of three days com- 
plete. This is the solution main- 
tained by Masius and most of the 
Jewish commentators, and is per- 
haps the most probable, although it 
is still liable to one objection. Josh- 
ua's sending out the spies implies 
that his movements would be gov- 
erned by their reports. But he could 
have had no assurance that he should 
receive this report within the space 
of three days, and yet he gives pe- 
remptory orders for moving forward 
within that time. Of what use then 
was the information which was to 
be gained from the reports of the 
spies 1 To this it may be replied, 



that as the distance from the en- 
campment to Jericho was but of a 
few hours' travel, three days' time 
was so large an allowance for the 
accomplishment of their mission, that 
he could not reasonably be supposed 
to run any risk in fixing the time of 
departure at the close of that period. 
This is perhaps sufiicient, and as 
every mode of understanding the 
matter is clogged with some difficul- 
ty, we are content to abide by that 

now given. IT Old of Shiiiim. 

Called elsewhere Abel- Shittim, un- 
less the latter were the name of the, 
adjoining valley. Its precise loca- 
tion cannot now be identified, and 
nothing more is known of it than 
that it was situated in the extensive 
plain of the Jordan. It is supposed 
to be the Abila of Josephus, and lay, 
according to him, about sixty stadia, 
or little upwards of seven miles from 
the Jordan, within the boundaries 
assigned to the tribe of Reuben, See 
Note on Num. 25. 1. It is supposed 
to have derived its name from the 
great quantity of trees, called Shit- 
tim-ivood, growing in the vicinity. 
•ff Two men to spy secretly. The 



Heb. term for ' spies ' is t)'^i!i'1?D mc- 
raggelim, from ^51 regel, a foot, 
implying those who travelled on foot, 
for the purpose of espial. See Note 
on Gen. 42. 9. The original of ' se- 
cretly ' is la^n heresh, signifying in 
strictness silently, and has reference 
either to the manner of their being 
sent, viz. in a secret, silent way, 
without the privity of the people ; or 
to the mode of discharging their 
duty, that is, noiselessly, stealthily, 
The former is probably the leading 
import, as it is a matter of course 
and unnecessary to be intimated, tha^ 
spies should perform their errand in 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER II. 



29 



men to spy secretly, saying, Go 

• 

a secret manner. But it was not 
superfluous lo menlion that the spies 
\\-ere sent out without the knowledge 
of the people, as from the recollection 
of his ovvn case when dispatched by 
Moses, Joshua might have appre- 
hended very disheartening effects 
upon the timid minds of the Israel- 
ites when they came to hear the re- 
ports brought back. On the general 
policy of sending these spies on this 
occasion, when an express assurance 
had been given to Joshua that every 
place on which the sole of his foot 
should tread should come into his 
possession, and that no man should 
be able to stand before him, we may 
remark, that it is but in accordance 
with the ordinary arrangements of 
infinite wisdom as displayed in the 
history of its dispensations ; and we 
must consider Joshua, in all this 
•ransaetion, as acting not from him- 
self, but from the impulse or the ex- 
press direction of a higher power. 
The certainty of a promised or pre- 
dicted issue does not supersede the 
use of prudent means in the attempt 
to compass it. To neglect the use 
of the appropriate means is to con- 
travene the established order of the 
Divine councils and to tempt God 
rather than honor him. Even when 
a cloudy pillar was vouchsafed to the 
Israelites, to conduct their march 
through the wilderness, yet it would 
seem from Num. 10. 31, that scouts 
were employed who were to serve as 
'eyes' to the congregation by going 
before and designating the proper 
places for encamping. In the present 
instance Joshua is prompted to do 
just what any discreet and skilful 
leader would have done in similar 
3* 



view the land, even Jericho. 

circumstances. Being about to be- 
siege a fortified place, he takes the 
requisite measures for acquainting 
himself with its true position, its 
strong and its weak points, that he 
may order his tactics accordingly. 
He was indeed well aware that his 
victory was certain, and that it was 
the arm of Jehovah, and not his own, 
that would achieve it; but he was 
equally assured that feith did not 
preclude effort, and that he was to 
proceed in the enterprise just as if. 
everything depended on his unaided 
prowess and skill. This is ever the 
true mode of evincing a believing 
dependence on the Divine blessing; 
to act as if all were owing to our- 
selves, to feel and acknovjledge that 
all is owing to the favor and effectual 

working of God himself. ^ View 

the land^ even Jericho. Heb. ' The 
land and Jericho.' Explore the land 
or country about Jericho, but more 
especially the city itself. Thus 
1 Kings 11. 1, ' But king Solomon 
loved many strange women, and tJce 
doMghter of Pharaoh^ i. e. especially 
the daughter of Pharaoh. 2 Sam. 
2. 30, ' And when he had gathered 
all the people together, there lacked 
of David's servants nineteen men, 
and Asahel^ Mark 16. 7, ' Go your 
way, and tell his disciples /z?i^ Peter ^ 
&c., i. e. especially inform Peter. 
They were to observe its site, its 
various localities, its avenues of 
approach, its fortifications, the state of 
the inhabitants— every thing, in fine, 
which would be of service to them 
in concerting the best mode of attack. 
The Heb. form of the name oi this 
city is "Wi^"^ yeriho (elsewhere 
^XX^'^ yenho and 'TVi^^^^ yerihoh), and 



30 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



And they went, and ^ came into 

b Heb. 11. 31. James 2. 25. c Mat. 1. 5. 

is derived, according to Gesenius, 
from h^*^ yareah^ the moon, from the 
shape of the plain on which it stood, 
or more probably according to others 
from rr^^ riah, scent, smell, from the 
sweet smell of the balsam, or palm- 
trees, the latter of which abounded 
there in such profusion that it is 
sometimes spoken of as the ' city of 
palm-trees,' Deut. 34. 3; Judg. 1. IG. 
It seems not to have been situated 
immediately upon the river, but at 
the distance of six or eight miles, at 
the base of the Gluarantina range of 
mountains. The modern Jericho, 
now called Rikah, is a miserable 
village of about fifty dv/ellings and 
two hundred inhabitants ; but accord- 
ing to the most intelligent travellers 
it does not occupy the site of the an- 
cient city. The latter is believed to 
have stood at least four miles nearer 
Jerusalem, at the very foot of the 
mountains, although it is admitted to 
be impossible distinctly to identify it. 
The modern Jericho is thus described 
by Prof Robinson {Trav., Vol. IL, 
p. 279) : ' We now returned through 
the village, which bears the Arabic 
name of Eriha, or, as it is more com- 
monly pronounced, Riha, a degene- 
rate shoot both in name and charac- 
ter of the ancient Jericho. Situated 
in the midst of this vast plain, it re- 
minded me much of an Egyptian 
village. The plain is rich and sus- 
ceptible of easy tillage and abundant 
irrigation, with a climate to produce 
any thing. Yet it lies almost desert ; 
and the village is the most miserable 
and filthy that we saw in Palestine. 
The houses or hovels are merely four 
walls of stones taken from ancient 



a harlot's house, named "" Ra- 
hab, and lodged there. 



ruins, and loosely thrown together, 
with flat roofs of cornstalks or brush- 
wood spread over wdth gravel. They 
stand quite irregularly, and with 
large intervals ; and each has around 
it a yard enclosed by a hedge of the 
dry thorny boughs of the Nubk. In 
many of these yards are open sheds 
with similar roofs; and the flocks 
and herds are brought into them a"- 
night, and render them filthy in the 
extreme. A similar but stronger 
hedge of Nubk branches surrounds 
the whole village, forming an almost 
impenetrable barrier. The few gar- 
dens round about seemed to contain 
nothing but tobacco and cucumbers. 
One single solitary palm now timidly 
rears its head, w^here once stood the 
renowned "City of Palm-trees." Not 
an article of provision was to be 
bought here, except new wheat un- 
ground.' The plain upon which 
Jericho stood is very extensive, and 
as numerous ruins are strewed over 
at a greater or less distance from the 
fountain by w^hich it was distin- 
guished, it is probable that in conse- 
quence of the malediction denounced 
against him who should rebuild its 
gates, the location was subsequently 
changed, and perhaps more than 

once. If And came into a harlot's 

house. The character of this woman 
has been a much disputed point 
among commentators. As she is 
commended by the apostle for her 
faith, Heb. 11. 31, and by her mar- 
riage with Salmon, Mat. 1. 5, subse- 
quently came into the line of our 
Lord's progenitors, great anxiety has 
been evinced to clear her reputation, 
if possible, from the reproach of an 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER 11. 



Qi 



infamous course of life. On this ac- 



count, great pains have been taken 
to siiow thai the original term may 
be proper]}' rendered 'hostess,' and 
so does not necessarily convey the 
idea attached to the English word 
'harlot.' But it is beyond all ques- 
tion, that the legitimate and uniform 
signification of the Heb. term is that 
of a ' harlo:,' either literal or spirit- 
ual. Judg. 11. 1-, 1 Kings 3. IG; 
Ezek. 23. 44. So also the word is 
rendered in the Sept., and this ren- 
dering is adopted by two apostles, 
Heb. 11. 31 j James 2. 25 ; though 
we do not consider the latter circum- 
stance by any means decisive as to 
the genuine import of the original ; 
for as the SepL Y\'as the translation 
at this time in common use, the}^ 
adopted the expression as they found 
it, without claiming thereby to settle 
its propriety as a version of the origi- 
nal. It is moreover to be remem- 
bered, that Rahab lived in the midst 
of a people, corrupt, abandoned and 
profligate to the last degree. Vices 
of the most enorm^ous and debasing 
character were practised without re- 
serve, and received the sane ion of 
every class of people. From repeated 
intimations in regard to the devoted 
nations, it appears that the Divine 
judgments were kindled against them 
more on account of the abominations 
of 'their lewdness than any thing else, 
as had been the ease with Sodom and 
Gomorrah of old. As these sins per- 
x^aded all ranks, they would cease to 
be regarded as infamous, and the 
term applied to Rahab does not per- 
haps indicate a character degraded 
much below the ordinary standard. 
Suppose her, however, to have been 
a harlot in the worst sense of the 
word, the licentiousness of her life, 



besides being the natural product of 
liie universal laxity of moral senti- 
ment on ihc subject, may have been 
promoted by the false religion in 
which she was educated. All this is 
said, not to excuse or justify her ini- 
quitous conduct, but to make it less 
surprising that ihe spies should have 
fallen in with a person of her char- 
acter, and been entertained by her. 
As to her being a hostess, or keeping 
an inn, there is not a particle of evi- 
dence from the original that such 
was the case, nor have we any rea- 
son to suppose, from the known cus- 
toms of oriental nations, that any 
such establishments as houses of 
public entertainment; in our accepta- 
tion of ike pltro.se, existed among 
them. Caravanserais or khans are 
indeed found in most parts of the 
East, but they are very difl'erent from 
public houses, taverns or hotels, with 
us. These are the result of a much 
more advanced state of. society than 
has ever prevailed in the East The 
following description from Volney, 
will give the reader somewhat of a 
correct idea of oriental accommoda- 
tions of this nature. ' There are no 
inns any where ; but the cities, and 
commonly the villageS; have a large 
building, called a khan or caraxan- 
serai, which serves as an asylum for 
all travellers. These houses of re- 
ception are always built without the 
precincts of towns, and consist of four 
wings round a square court, which 
serves by way of inclosure for the 
beasts of burden. The lodgings are 
cells, where y^ou find nothing but bare 
w^alls, dust, and sometimes scorpions. 
The keeper of this khan gives the 
traveller the key and a mat; and he 
provides himself the rest. He must 
therefore carry with him his bed, his 



32 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



2 And ''it was told the king 
of Jericho, saying, Behold, there 
came men in hither to-night of 
the children of Israel, to search 
out the country. 

d Ps. 127. 1. Prov. 2L 30i 

kitchen utensils^ and even his pro- 
visions J for frequently not even bread 
is to be found in the villages,' That 
Rahab had charge of such an esta- 
blishment is in the highest degree 
improbable. Far more likely is it 
that she was, or had been, a woman 
of loose morals^ living in a private 
station, and that the spies came to 
her hoase, moved doubtless hy a se- 
cret impulse from above^ because 
from its appearance, locality, or other 
causes, which we cannot now ascer- 
tain, it seemed to them a stopping 
place best suited to the purpose in 
which they were now engaged ; and 
in countries but liitle civilized, there 
is never much ceremony among 
travellers in applying for a night's 
lodging. Hospitality is almost a 
universal eharaeteristie of such a 
state of society. But whatever may 
have been Rahab's character pre- 
vious to the destruction of Jericho, 
there is no reason to suppose that 
after that event it was other than 
pious and exemplary, and such as 
became a true penitent. The oppro- 
brious appellation^ it is true, remain- 
ed, and it was not unfitting that her 
name, in the providence of God, 
should descend to posterity with 
something of a stigma attached to 
it, especially as it is according to 
scriptural usage, that a person should 
be called by a former denomination, 
even after the grounds of it have 
ceased. Thus Matthew is called 
' Matthew the publican,' Mat. 10. 3 j 



3 And the king of Jericho sent 
unto Rahab, saying. Bring forth 
the men tliat are come to tliee, 
which are entered into thine 
house : for they be come to 
search out all the country. 

9. 9, after he had been chosen an 
apostle, and Simon is called ' Simon 
the leper^' Mat. 26. 6, though cleans- 
ed from his leprosy. But if she had 
truly repented and reformed, there 
is no more j\"istiee in charging the 
sins of her former life upon her^ 
than in reproaching Abraham with 
the sin of idolatry, of which he was 

doubtless gmlty before his call. 

^ And lodged there. Heb. in-IT'^T 
n?2iD va-yishkebU shammdhj arid Imj 
doivn there. That is, they went m 
wiih the design of lodging there, and 
probably had actually lain down and 
composed themselves to rest, when 
the arrival of the king's messengers 
defeated their pmrpose, interrupted 
their repose, and made it necessary 
for them to save themselves by flight. 
Thus Gen. 37. 21, 'And Reuben 
heard it, and he delivered him out 
of their hands,' i. e. he purposed to 
deliver him. 

2. Behold there came men — to search 
out the country. This could have 
been only a conjecture, yet they affirm 
it as a matter of absolute certainty. 
As they could conceive of no other 
motive for w^hich they had come, it 
was perhaps natural that they should 
confidently assign this as the true one. 

3. For the^j be come^ &c. This 
seems to have been said by way of 
answer to anticipated objections on 
her part, as if it w^ere the height of 
treachery to her guests thus to deal 
wuth them. ' But no, you need have 

I no scruples on this score, for the men 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER 11. 



33 



4 ^And the woman took the 
two men, and hid ihem, and said 
thus, There came men unto me, 
but I wist not whence they were : 

5 And it came to pass about 

e See 2 Sam. 17. 19. 20. 



are not good men. as you may have 
supposed ; they have come hither as 
enemies and^spies, whom it will be 
no breach of the laws of hospitality 
to deliver up to justice.' 

4. And the woman took the two men 
and hid. them, Heb, Ij&^m xaliilz- 
peno^ hid him, i. e, each one of them ; 
impl3ing probably that she hid them 
separately, at some distance from 
each other. The original for ' took,' 
should probabl)^ be rendered ' had ta- 
ken,' and the whole clause inclosed 
in a parenthesis. She had, in all 
likelihood, learnt soon after their ar- 
rival the object of their errand, and 
aware of the danger to Avhich they 
would be exposed if discovered, she 
had. at an early hour, conveyed them 
to a place of concealment \ not, how- 
ever, before rumors of their presence 
began to circulate about the city. 
This is justly ceiebrated by the apos- 
tle as an instance of high and heroic 
faith, Heb. 11. 3L So strong was 
her persuasion of the truth of what 
had been announced to her, so fully 
was she convinced, from what she 
had heard of the wonders wrought 
for Israel, that their God was the only 
true God, and consequently that his 
declared purpose in regard to Canaan 
would surely come to pass, that she 
ventures her life upon her faith. She 
knew that harboring them was expos- 
ing herself to the death of a traitor 
to her country, and yet she runs the 
risk. ' She contemns her life for the 
present, that she may save it for the 



the time of shutting of the gate, 
when it was dark, that the men 
went out : whither the men went 
I wot not: pursue after them 
quickly ; for ye shall overtake 
them . 

future ; neglected her own king and 
country, for strangers which she 
never saw ; and more feared the de- 
struction of that city before it knew 
that it had an enemy, than the dis- 
pleasure and mortal revenge of her 
king.' Bp, HalL It was thus that 
her faith justified itself by works. 
Had she merely assured the spies, 
that though she believed that both 
Jericho and Canaan would fall into 
their hands, yet in her circumstances 
she could show them no kindness, 
her faith would have been dead and 
inactive; and would not have justified 
her. James 2, 25. But her conduct 
showed that it was active and lively, 
and the event proved that it was effi- 
cacious to her salvation. So, unless 
our faith leads us to incur hazards 
and make sacrifices for God, it is to 

be accounted of no avail. IT There 

came men unto me, but I vnst not 
v:hence they vjere. Thus far, perhaps, 
her answer contains no violation of 
truth. She admits that two men 
came to her house, but at the time of 
their coming, she knew not whence 
they were. The verb in the original 
is in the past tense, and should be so 
rendered — '• I knew not' 

5. Abont the time of shnttijig of the 

gate. The gate of the city. IT The 

men went out, &c. This is the part 
of Rahab's conduct most difficult to 
be accounted for, consistently with 
the commendations elsewhere be- 
stowed upon her by the sacred wri- 
ters. That she deceived the messen- 



34 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



gers by a falsehood is indubitable. 
She said the spies had left her house 
when they were still in it. How is 
this to be reconciled with the work- 
ing of a heart made right in the 
sight of God '? The question is cer- 
tainly one of no easy solution ; but 
in forming a judgment of her con- 
duct, it is fair that Rahab should 
have the benefit of every extenuating 
circumstance that can be adduced in 
her favor; and such arethe following. 
(1.) Having been born and brought 
up among the depraved Canaan- 
iteSj she had probably never been 
taught the evil of lying, and least 
of all where an apparently good 
end was to be answered by it. From 
the uniform testimony of travellers 
and missionaries, it is evident that 
among all heathen nations, particu- 
larly those of the East, lying ever has 
been, and still is, a practice of uni- 
versal prevalence, and of the crimi- 
nality of which they have scarcely 
any sense. So weak is the feeling 
of obligation, as to the ob.>ervance of 
strict veracity, that even apparently 
sincere converts have the greatest 
difficulty in freeing themselves from 
the habit of equivocation, and need 
to be perpetually admonished on thai 
score. (See Read's Christian Brah- 
mun.) What wonder then that Ra- 
hab, a poor, ignorant, heathen wo- 
man, upon whose mind the light of a 
saving knowledge had just begun to 
dawn, should have prevaricated in 
the trying circumstances in whicli 
she was placed 1 How much allow- 
ance precisely is to be made for her 
on this ground w^may not know, but 
God does. To him we may leave it. 
That it should go someqvhat in abate- 
ment of her guilt, if guilty she were, 
we have no doubt. 



(2.) Apart from the above consid- 
eration, it was truly a difficult prob- 
lem to be solv'ed, how she should, un- 
der the circumstances, act according 
to her faith. She fully believed that 
what the spies had told her was true. 
She says not, ' I fear,' or ' I believe,' 
but ' Iknow^ that the Lord hath given 
you the land.' She was satisfied that 
it was in vain to fight -against God, 
and what could she do 7 If she had 
either told the truth or remained si- 
lent, she had betrayed the spies ; but 
if she believed them sent of God, 
could she have done this without sin 1 
She knew, moreover, very well, that 
if these two spies were put to death, 
it v/ould make no difference what- 
ever as to the issue of the contest. 
The whole city and its inhabitants 
would at any rate be destroyed. To 
w-hat purpose then would it be to de- 
liver up the spies ? It would not save 
one single life ; it would only be to 
continue fighting against God. and to 
bring on herself and her family that 
destruction which it was now in her 
power to avert. By concealing the 
spies she could in fact injure nobody, 
whereas by giving them up, she would 
sacrifice not them only, but also 
herself and her family. Was there 
then any other conceivable mode by 
which she could act according to her 
faith, than by practising an imposi- 
tion upon the king's officers '? 

(3.) By the fact of her exercising a 
firm faith in the Divine testimony, 
she did virtually throw herself upon 
the side of Israel, and unite her in- 
terests with theirs. Henceforth their 
enemies were hers. If the Canaan- 
ites had no right to demand the truth 
of Israel, they had no right to de- 
mand it of her. If it would have 
been right for the Israelites to have 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER 11. 



35 



6 But "^she had brons-ht them 
up to the roof of the house, and 
hid them with the stalks of ilax, 
which she had laid in order upon 
the roof. 

f See Exod. 1. 17. 2Sam. 17. 19. 

recourse to a stratagem to mislead an 
enemy in arms, we see not why it 
was not equally right for her. But 
that the Israelites ofieii did resort to 
such expedients in carrying on their 
wars is beyond ques;ion, nor do the 
scriptures absolutely condemn them. 
They are ceriainly as lawful as war 
itself is. jN'o one probably doubts 
that Elisha was justified in deceiving 
the Syrian arm}', and leading them 
blinded from Doiham, whither they 
had come to destroy him, to Samaria, 
where they were brought into the 
power of the king of Israel. Con- 
sidering Rahabthen as really leagued 
wi.h Israel against her countiymen, 
why is she not equally to be justified 
with Elisha in imposing upon her 
enemies % If they will sufler them- 
selves to be deceived by her direction 
to pursue the spies another way, let 
ihem be deceived. The fidelity that 
she owed to God was entirely para- 
mount to that which she owed her 
country, and she was boimd to act 
accordingly. But whether we justify 
or condemn her conduct, it can aftbrd 
no precedent to us. Before vve can 
plead her example in justification of 
treachery or falsehood, we must be 
circumstanced as she was. But this 
it is nearly impossible we ever should 
be. 

6. She had brought them up to the 
roof of the house. This verse is also 
parenthetical, and designed to explain 
more particularly the circumstances 
of the concealment mentioned, v. 4. 



7 And the men pursued after 
them the way to Jordan unto 
the fords : and as soon as they 
wdiich pursued after them were 
gone out, they shut the gate. 



The roofs of houses were then, as 
they still are in that country, flat, and 
being furnished with such battle- 
ments or parapets, as were com- 
manded to the Jews, Deut. 22. 8, 
were made use of for walking or 
sleeping upon, or for depositing any 
kind of goods or chattels which could 
not be conveniently bestowed else- 
where. See my ' Illustrations of the 

Scriptures,' p. 159,414, 461. '^ Hid 

them v:ith the stalks ofjiaz^ &c. This 
was probably laid upon the roof, in 
order to dry in the sun, preparatory 
to beating and dressing it for the 
wheel on which it was to be spun. 
Had she kept a public-house, as some 
have supposed, she would have been 
less likely to have had her roof 
spread over with such an article. 
The original is explicit in saying 
that the flax had been spread out or 
laid in order ' for herself,' as if for 
her own use; from which the infer- 
ence is, w^e think, not inaptly drawn, 
that she possessed one at least of the 
characters of the virtuous woman, 
viz. that ' she sought wool and flax, 
and wrought willingly with her 
hands.' Prov. 31. 13, and perhaps, at 
this time, supported herself in a way 
of honest industry. 

7. Unto the 'fords. Heb. J35? 
r.l'Hjlpy^n al ham7)iaberoth^ at the pas- 
sages, or crossing-places ; whether 
such places were .crossed by boats, or 
bridges, or fording. Probably there 
were several such places, and the 
pursuers may have divided them- 



96 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



8 IF And before they were laid 
down, she came up unto them 
upon the roof; 

9 And she said unto the men, 
I know that the Lord hath giv- 
en you the land, and that ^your 
terror is fallen upon us, and that 
all the inhabitants of the land 
faint because of you. 

p Gen. 35. 5. Exod. 23, 27. Deut. 2. 25. 
and II. 25. 

selves into different companiesj and 
directed their course to each of them. 

^ Shut the gate. Doubtless with 

especial care, and perhaps setting an 
extra guard, both to bar out enemies 
that might be lurking in the neigh- 
borhood, and to prevent the escape 
of the spies, if perchance they still 
remained in the city. 

9 . / know that the Lord licith given, 
&e. I know and am assured ; I am 
perfectly satisfied; I have not a doubt. 
An emphatic declaration implying 
much more than a shrewd conjec- 
ture or strong suspicion from exist- 
ing circumstances that such would 
be the result. The words are ex- 
pressive of the strength of her faith. 
The sources from which she had ob- 
tained this information and assurance 
are sufficiently detailed in what fol- 
lows, V. 9-12. IF Your terror. 

The dread of you. See Ex. 23. 27 ; 

'U. 24 ; Deut. 11. 25 ; 28. 7. -IT All 

the inhabitants of the land faint. 
Heb. ' are melted, dissolved, lique- 
fied.' Precisely the same expression 
is used, Ex. 15. 15, in reference to 
this very event : ' all the inhabitants 
of Canaan shall melt away.'' It ex- 
presses, in the strongest manner, the 
effect of the general consternation 
which had seized upon the devoted 
nations, in view of contending with 



10 For we hare heard how 
the Lord ^ dried up the waters 
of the Red sea for you, when ye 
came out of Egypt ; and ' what 
ye did unto the two kings of the 
Amorites that were on the other 
side Jordan, Sihon and Og, 
whom ye utterly destroyed. 



h Exod. 14. 21. ch. 4. 23. i Num. 21. 
24, 34, 35. 



such a powerful foe — one which was 
under the special conduct and pro- 
tection of an Almighty arm. Their 
very hearts quailed before the ap- 
proach of Israel, in a certain fearful 
looking for of judgment and ven- 
geance at their hands. It was pro- 
ba.bly something m.ore than a mere 
natural dread of a formidable enemy j 
it was a supernatural panic sent upon 
their spirits by the immediate power 
of God, a fearful presage of the de- 
struction that awaited them. 

10. For we have heard^ &c. The 
first of these events, the drying up of 
the Red Sea, had happened forty 
years before^ and though it had pro- 
duced a deep impression at the time, 
on all the surrounding nations, yet in 
the lapse of that long interval, which 
was a season granted them for repen- 
tance, it is not unlikely that their 
alarm had in great measure died 
away, till now it was revived again 
by their nearer approach, and by the 
recent overthrow of the two Amor- 
itish kings. The convictions of sin- 
ners are apt to come and go with the 
alarming or afflictive dispensations 
of God^s providence. So it is said of 
Israel of old, Ps. 78. 34-37, ' when 
he slew them, then they sought him: 
and they returned (changed their 
mind) and inquired early after God* 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER II. 



37 



11 And as soon as we had 
^ heard these things^ ^our hearts 
did meh., neither did there re- 
main any more courage in any 
man, because of you : for '"^ the 

k Exod, 15. 14, 15. 1 ch. 5. 1, and 7, 5. 
Isa. 13. 7. m Deut. 4. 39. 

Nevertheless, they did flatter him 
with their mouth, and they Ued unto 
him with their tongues ; for their 
heart was not right with him, neither 
were they steadfast in his covenant.' 
11. A7id as soon as we had heard 
these things J our heart did melt. Heb. 
i:n2p D?3^1 5>?3:D2T vannishma va- 
yimmas levaveJiu, and vje heard, and 
our heart did melt ; spoken as if the 
whole nation v/ere one person, hav- 
ing one heart. The original word 
for 'melt,' though not precisely the 
same with that in v. 9, is yet of kin- 
dred import, the metaphor being 
taken from the melting of metals be- 
■*ir Neither did there 



fore the fire. 
remain any more courage iu any man. 
Heb. tr^N:^ mi mi? T\)2p JSj^l veto 
kamah od ruali baish, neither any 
more stood there up spirit in any man. 
That is, no man's spirit was erect 
within him ; every one's courage 
failed, and he became cowering and 

faint-hearted. ff Because of you. 

Heb. SiD'iZiD^Q mippenekem^ from be- 
fore you ; i. e. by reason of your pre- 
sence ; a frequent idiom of the He- 
brew. •% He is God in heaven 

above^ a.nd in earth beneath. As 
much as to say, ' The Lord your God 
is both omnipotent and omnipresent ;' 
a remarkable confession considering 
the previous ignorance and darkness 
of her mind. It was at once an 
acknowledgment of the true God, and 
a condemnation of the false gods and 
idolatrous worship of her country- 
4 



Lord your God, he is God in 
heaven above, and in earth be- 
neath. 

12 Now therefore, I pray you, 
"swear unto me by the Lord, 
since I have showed you kind- 

n See 1 Sam. 20. 14, 15, 17. 

men, and showed a supernatural in- 
fluence of God upon her soul. He 
can cause the rays of truth to pene- 
trate the thickest shades of that moral 
midnight which broods over the minds 
of the unenlightened heathen, though 
Ave have no evidence that he ever 
does this, except in connexion with 
some kind of external instrumentality. 
12. S'wear unto me by the Lord. 
This proposal still further displays 
the sincerity and the strength of her 
faiih. While the people of Israel, 
with the miracles of the Divine power 
constantly before their eyes, were in- 
cessantly prone to stagger at the 
promises and give way to unbelief, 
she. upon the mere hearsay report of 
these wonders, is so firmly persuaded 
of their truth, that she desires to enter 
covenant with the spies for her own 
preservation and that of her family. 
Though they were now in perilous 
circumstances, shut up within the 
walls of Jericho, and surrounded by 
enemies, yet she treats with them as 
if they had already stormed the city, 
and had the power of life and death 
in their hands. So earnest is she in 
this matter, that she would have them 
ratify by an oath their agreement to 
save her. In like manner, a deep- 
rooted conviction of the danger hang- 
ing over the head of the sinner from 
the curse of a violated law, will 
prompt him to give all diligence to 
flee from the wrath to come and lay 
hold on eternal life, by joining him- 



88 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



ness, that ye will also show 
kindness unto ° my father's house, 
and Pgive me a true token : 

13 And that ye will save alive 
my father, and my mother, and 
my brethren, and my sisters, and 

See 1 Tim. 5. 8. ' P ver. 18. 

self to God and his people. ^Haxe 

showed you kindjiess. Heb. ^ri'^lL'i> 
*TCn fi-722P asithi immakem hesed, 
ho,ve d.one ^jou kindness; and so in 
the next clause, ' That ye will also 

do kindness,' &c. '^Give me a true 

token. Heb. t:^i< r,1&^ 6th emefh, a sign 
or token of iruth^ well rendered ac- 
cording to the sense ; 'a true token,' 
i. e. a token which shall not deceiv^e 
me ; one w^hich I may produce as a 
witness of this agreement ; one on 
the sight of which the Israelites shall 
forbear to hurt either me or mine. 

13. Tliat ye unll save alive my fa- 
ther and my mother. Heb. Dri"^"^nn 
ha^hayitheni, will make ar cause to live. 
On the peculiar import of this word, 
see Note on ch. G. 25. It w411 be ob- 
served that she makes no mention of 
her husband, from which it is to be 
inferred that she w^as now a widow, 
or had never been married. • In ei- 
ther case, the fact militates altogether 
against the hypothesis of her being 
a hostess, for nothing could be more 
abhorrent from Eastern notions and 
usages, than a single woman's fol- 
lowing such an occupation, even had 
the occupation been known among 
them. But a practical remark of 
more importance suggests itself in 
this connexion. The same feelings 
which warn us to flee the coming 
wrath and make our own peace with 
God. will also incite us to do all in 
our powder to promote the salvation 
of our familie-s and kindred, by bring- 



all that they have, and delivei 
our lives from death. 

14 And the men answered her, 
Our life for yours, if ye utter 
not this our business. And it 
shall be, when the Lord hath 



ing them also within the bonds of the 
covenant. We shall feel that our 
work is but half done when our own 
souls are safe. 

14. Ottr life for yours. Heb. 
ni^i t^^rinn irr^D uaphshenu tah- 
tekem Idmoth, let o^ir soul be to die in- 
stead of you {pi.) That is, w^e pawn 
and pledge our lives for the security 
of yours, and those of your relatives ; 
may our lives be destroyed, if we suf- 
fer 3'ours to be injured. This lan- 
guage affords no warrant for those 
thoughtless imprecations which are 
often introduced in discourse in or- 
der to give more emphasis to the 
speaker's promises or declarations. 
If//' ye utter not this our busi- 
ness. That is, if neither thou nor 



any of thy kindred (' ye') betray us 
when we are gone, or divulge this 
agreement, so that others may avail 
themselves of its condiiion.s. ' They 
that will be conscientious in keeping 
their promises, will be cautious in 
making them, and may perhaps in- 
sert conditions w^hich others will 

think frivolous.' Henry. IT And it 

shall be^ &c. The preceding clause 
is properly parenthetical, and these 
words should be read in immediate 
connexion with what goes before, 
transl ting ' th t ' instead of ' and '— 
' Our life for yours (if ye utter not 
this ou'^ brsiiiess), that it shall be. 
when the Lord hath given,' &c. The 
present mode of punctuation gives a 
wrong, or at least an inadequate view 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER II. 



39 



given us the land, that "^ we will 
deal kindly and truly with thee. 

15 Then she "" let tliem down 
by a cord through the window : 
for her house ivas upon the 
town -wall J and she dv/elt upon 
the wall. 

16 And she said unto them, 
Get you to the mountain, lest 
the pursuers meet you ; and 
hide yourselves there three 

q Judg. 1. 24. Matt. 5. 7. r Acts 9. 25. 

of the precise scope of the passage 
under consideration. 

15. The7i, she let them dovm, (fcc. 
That is, by the help of her friends or 
domestics. In like manner Paul 
made his escape from Damascus. 2 
Cor. 11. 33. The conversation men- 
tioned in the succeeding verses ap- 
pears to have taken place previous to 
their being let down from the win- 
dow ; for w^hich reason Adam Clarke 
remarks, that the natural place of 
this verse is immediately after the 
first clause of v. 21. It is very un- 
likely that she would dismiss them 
before the above-mentioned condi- 
tions w^ere agreed upon ; or that she 
would discourse with them of matters 
of so much moment after they were 
let down, and were standing under 
the window, where others might 
overhear them ; or that she would 
commence speaking to them in her 
chamber, and not finish till they had 
left the house. 

16. Get you to the mountain. Heb. 
*lii tT\T]T] haharah leku, mountain^ 
vjards go ye. That is, to the moun- 
tainous region in the vicinity ; not to 
any particular mountain. This is an 
extremely frequent sense of the word 
^ mountain ' in Scripture. The Gr. 
has here etg rfjv dp£iv^Vj to the moun- 



days, until the pursuers be re- 
turned : and afterward may ye 
go your way. 

17 And the men said unto her, 
We ivill he ^blameless of this 
thine oath which thou hast made 
us swear. 

IS ^Behold, lohen we come 
into the land, thou shalt bind 
this line of scarlet thread in the 
window which thou didst let us 

s Exod. 20. 7. t ver. 12. 



tainous regiau. Jericho, as w^e have 
seen, was encompassed by a range of 
high hills. In some of the caves of 
these they might conceal themselves 
for the time specified. 

1 7. We v'ill be blameless of this th ine 
oath. It shall not be our fault if the 
said oath be not kept, provided the 
annexed conditions be punctually ob- 
served on thy part. We will be free 
from the reproach of being unfaithful 
to our engagements. These condi- 
tions they go on to state in the next 
verse. 

18. This line of scarlet thread. 
Rather ^ this cord,' i. e. a line or cord, 
consisting of such a number of 
threads or braids, that w^hen twisted 
together, the}^ should be capable of 
sustaining the weight of a man's 
body ; for it seems to have been the 
very same cord with which they 
were let down from the wdndow. 
This was to be a mark upon the 
house, of which the spies would in- 
form the camp of Israel^ so that no 
soldier, however fierce and eager he 
might be in the work of destruction, 
should offer any violence to the place 
thus distinguished. It answered, 
therefore, the same purpose with the 
blood sprinkled upon the door-posts 
in Egypt, which secured the first-bom 



40 



JOSHUA 



[B. C. 145] 



down by : " and thou shalt bring 
thy father, and thy mother, and 
thy brethren, and all thy father's 
household home unto thee. 

19 And it shall be, that who- 
soever shall go out of the doors 
of thy house into the street, his 
blood shall he upon his head, and 
we will he guiltless : and whoso- 
ever shall be with thee in the 
house, ""his blood s^a// be on our 
head, if any hand be upon him. 

20 And if thou utter this our 
business, then we will be quit 

uch. 6. 23. xMatt. 27. 25. 



from the destroying angel. IT Thou 

shall bring thy father and thy mother , 
&c. Heb. "^^Di^n taasphi, thou shalt 
bring together^ assemble. In no other 
way could Rahab's kindred be dis- 
tinguished from those who were to 
be devoted to the sword. If they 
would not * perish with them that be- 
lieved not,' they must convey them- 
selves to the only place of safeL3^ If 
any of them had been met in the 
streets by the slaughtering Israelites, 
it would have availed them nothing 
to say, ' We belong to the house of 
Rahab.' The answer w^ould be, ' If 
you belong to the house, why are you 
not in the house? We know j^ou 
not.' So those who professedly be- 
long to the church of Christ, if they 
would be saved, must keep close to 
the society of the faithful. If they 
are found mingled with the world in 
spirit and pursuit, they have reason 
to fear being overwhelmed in its de- 
struction. 

19. His blood shoXl be upon his head. 
The guilt of his blood-shedding shall 
rest wholly upon himself He shall 
have no one else to blame. He has 



of thine oath which thou hast 
made us to swear. 

21 And she said, According 
unto your words, so he it. And 
she sent them away, and they 
departed : and she bound the 
scarlet line in the window. 

22 And they went, and came 
unto the mountain, and abode 
there three days, until the pur- 
suers were returned : and the 
pursuers sought them throughout 
all the way, but found them not. 

23 IT So the two men returned, 
and descended from the moun- 

failed to perform the conditions of 
the covenant, and so must suffer for 

it. If If any hand be upon hivi. 

That is, so as to slay him. See a 
like phraseology, Deut. 17. 7. Est. 
6. 2. Job. 1. 12. 

21. According to your U'ords so be 
it. I readily agree to the terms ; 
they are reasonable, and I have no- 
thing to say against them. ^ A7id 

she bound the scarlet line in the win- 
doiv. Probably not immediately, for 
fear of exciting suspicion, but in sea- 
son to avail herself of the benefit 
of it. 

22. Abode there three days. Not 
three entire days, but one whole day 
and part of two others. They were 
sent out on the sixth day of the month 
Nisan, and escaped from Jericho the 
same night. The seventh day they 
spent in the mountains. On the 
eighth they returned to the camp. 
These three days are reckoned in the 
same manner as the three days of our 
Lord's burial. Matt. 27. 64. 

23. Passed over. Over Jordan. 
IT Told him all things that befel 

Heb 



'all things that found 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER III. 



41 



tain, and passed over, and came 
to Joshua the son of Nun, and 
told him all things that befel 
them : 

24 And they said unto Joshua, 
Truly ^' the Lord hath delivered 
into our hands all the land ; for 
even all the inhabitants of the 
country do faint because of us. 



A 



CHAPTER HI. 
ND Joshua rose early in 
the morning ; and they re- 

>• Exod. 23. 31. ch. 6. 2, and 21. 44. 

them.' They probably made their 
report to Joshua alone, or to him in 
company with the elders, without 
who:^e concurrence no matter of im- 
portance seems to have been con- 
certed or undertaken. 

24. Do faint because of us. Heb. 
' are melted before our faces.' From 
this they drew the assured conclu- 
sion, that God was about to deliver 
the country into their hands. Those 
that were then deprived of their cour- 
age, would soon be deprived of their 
possessions. ' Sinners' frights are 
sometimes sure presages of their 
fall.' — Henry. 



CHAPTER III, 

1. Joshua rose early in the morn- 
ing. That is, doubtless, on the morn- 
ing of the third or fourth day after 
the proclamation mentioned, ch. 1. 11. 
Whether the spies had at this time 
returned or not is uncertain, though 

most probable that they had.- 

^Lodged there before they passed over. 
That is, for one night. It would be 
more convenient for the congrega- 
tion to pass over in the day-time ; the 
miracle to be wrought would be 

more conspicuous ; and a greater ter- 

4# 



moved "^from Shittim, and came 
to Jordan, he and all the child- 
ren of Israel, and lodged there 
before they passed over. 

2 And it came to pass ^ after 
three days, that the officers 
went through the host ; 

3 And they commanded the 
people, saying, " When ye see 
the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord your God, "^ and the 
priests the Levites bearing it, 

a ch. 2, 1. b ch. 1. 10, 11. c See Num. 
10. 33. a Deut. 31. 9, 25. 

ror would be struck into the minds 
of the Canaanites. There is no evi- 
dence that the Israelites were in- 
formed of the manner in which they 
were to cross the river, yet they went 
forward in faith, being assured that 
they should pass it, ch. 1. 11. Duty 
often calls us to take one step with- 
out knowing how we shall take the 
next ; but if brought thus far by the 
leadings of Providence, and while 
engaged in his service, we may safe- 
ly leave the event to him. He will 
cleave the flood or the rock rather 
than that the way of his servants 
should be obstructed. 

2. It came to pass after three days. 
In exact fulfilment of Joshua's de- 
claration, ch. 1. 10, 11. 

3. Commanded the people^ &c. In 
the name and by the authority of 
Joshua, not of their own motion. It 
is not unlikely that there is some- 
thing of a transposition here, and that 
the portion from v. 7 to 14 properly 

belongs to this place. If The priests 

the Levites bearing it. The priests 
who are Levites. who belong to the 
tribe of Levi. Although it was ordi- 
narily the duty of the sons of Kohath, 
who were merely Levites and not 



42 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



then ye shall remove from your 
place, and go after it. 

4 "" Yet there siiail be a space 
between you and it, about two 
thousand cubits by measure : 
come not near unto it, that ye 
may know the w^ay by which 

e Exod. 19. 12. 

priests, to bear the ark, Num. 4. 15j 
yet it appears tliat on solemn occa- 
sions this arrangement might be de- 
parted from, and the oflice performed 
by the priests, Josh. G. 6. The same 
measure was adopted when the ark 
was carried round Jericho — when 
Zadok and Abiathar brought it back 
to Jerusalem, at the time that David 
fled from Absalom, 2 Sam. 15. 29, — 
and when it was lodged in the tem- 
ple of Solomon, 1 Kings 8. G , the 
Levites not being permitted to enter 

the sanctuary. *iT Remore from 

your place. That is, break up from 
your encampment, leave your tents, 
commence your march, v. 14. 



IT Go after it. Follow it. Go in the 
rear of it. Hitherto, under the con- 
duct of Mobcs, the ark had held a 
different position. It was stationed 
in the cenre while the host was en- 
camped, and borne in the middle of 
the immense proces.-ion when it set 
forward. But they then had the pil- 
lar of cloud by day and of fire by 
night to precede them. Now the 
cloud is removed, and the ark is 
transferred to the vanguard of the 
army, to go before. 

4. There shall be a space — about 
tvw thousand cubits. Two thousand 
cubits amounted to about one thou- 
sand yards, or three quariers of a 
mile, and this space \Yas to intervene 
between them and the ark, in order 
that they might be impressed with a 



ye must go ; for ye have not 
passed this way heretofore. 

5 And Joshua said unto the 
people, * Sanctify yourselves : 
for to-morrow the Lord will do 
wonders among you. 

f Exod. 19. 10, 14, 15. Lev, 20. 7. Num. 
11.18. ch.7. 13. ltSam.16. 15. Joel 2. 16. 



becoming awe and reverence of the 
symbol of the Divine pre. ence. They 
would see. loo, by this means, that in- 
stead of their protecting it, they owed 
all their protection to it. Another 
reason is expressed in the words im- 
mediately following. ^ That ye 

may Icnoiv the way by which ye must 
go. The ark was to be their pilot 
across the waters, and by being ad- 
vanced so far ahead of them, would 
be more conspicuous than if the peo- 
ple had gathered and pressed close 
around it. As it was put at.sucli a 
distance before them, they would all 
have the satisfaction of seeing it, and 
would be animaled by the sight. 
This was the more necessary, as the 
passage of the Jordan was an untrod- 
den way to them. IT Ye have not 

passed this way heretofore. Heb. 
trL'blD il?:t:>2 mittcmol shilshCm, 
since yesterday and the third day ; 
i. e. never hitherto. The same form 
of expression occurs. Gen. 31. 2. It 
is perhaps intimated, moreover, that, 
they were now to cross the river, not 
at any usual fording place, but at 
some point entirely new, by a passage 
which should miraculously open be- 
fore them as the priests and the ark 
advanced. 

5. And Joshua said urdo the people, 
Sanctify yourselves. Rather, 'had 
said,' lor as he speaks of ' to-mor- 
row,' the charge was prcbally give» 
on the day previous to the one new 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER III. 



43 



6 And Joshua spake unto the 
priests, saying, = Take up the 
ark of the cov^enant, and pass 
over beibre the people. And 
they took up the ark of the cov- 
enant, and went before the peo- 
ple. 

7 TTAnd the LoRd said unto 

ff Num. 4. 15. 



current, on which they were passing 
over Jordan. The command now 
given was undoubredly of the same 
import with that given b}^ Moses, on 
the eve of the delivery of the law 
upon mount Sinai, Ex. 19. 10-14. 
They were to wash their persons and 
their garments, and to abstain from 
every thing that might indispose 
their minds to a serious and devout 
attention to the miracle about to be 
wrought in their behalf A similar 
command was generally given on 
great and solemn occasions. Lev. 
20.7, 8; Num. 11. 18; 1 Sam. 16. 
6; Joel 2. 16. The special manifes- 
tations of God's presence should be 
awaited by his people in a posture of 
deep humiliation, and penitence, and 
prayer, and by diligent efforts to 
' cleanse themselves from all iilihi- 
ness of flesh and spirit.' 

6. Take up the ark of the covenant^ 
&c. Joshua in giving this command 
is not to be considered as acting on 
his own absolute authority, for it 
would have been too much for him 
to assume the responsibility of chang- 
ing the usual order of march, with- 
out a Divine direction. He was 
merely the organ of announcing the 
will of God in respect to this matter. 
He obeyed the commands of Heaven 

as the priests did his. ^ They took 

v/p the ark of the coveiiant^ and went 



Joshua, This day will I begin to 
^ magnify thee in the sight of all 
Israel, that they nriay know that 
'as I was with Moses, so I will 
be with thee. 

8 And thou shalt command 
•"the priests that bear the ark 
of the covenant, saying. When 

h ch, 4 14. 1 Chron. 29, 25. 2 Chron. 1 
L 1 ch. i. 5. k ver 3. 

before the people. Heb. "Ifc^'IJ'^l va- 
yisu, they bore up, i. e. upon their 
shoulders, according to the direction, 
Num. 7, 9. 'A noble defiance of the 
enemies of Israel was thus given ; 
who were challenged to attack the 
unarmed priests, or to attempt to 
seize the unattended ark.' Scoit. 

T. And the Lord said unto Joshua, 
&c. Or, ' for the Lord had said,' as 
in numberless cases elsewhere. It 
seems highly probable that these 
words were spoken to Joshua before 
the preceding charge was given to 
the people. That which constitutes 
the ground or reason of a particular 
order or statement, and which is 
properly antecedent to it, is often by 

the sacred writers placed last. IF 

This day loill I begin to magnify 
thee, &c. To make thee great, to 
raise thee in the estimation of thy 
people, to confirm thine authority, 
and to clothe thee with honor. God 
had before put distinguished honor 
upon Josliua on several occasions, 
Ex. 24. 13 ; Deut. 31. 7, but it had not 
been in so public and solemn a man- 
ner ; now he designs to magnify him 
as the successor of Moses in the gov- 
ernment. He w^as to be the visible 
instrument of working a mighty mir- 
acle in the eyes of the nation ; and 
from his circumstantially foretelling 
how the waters should be cut off, as 



iH 



44 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451, 



ye are come to the brink of the 
water of Jordan, ^ ye shall stand 
still in Jordan. 

9 IF And Joshua said unto the 
children of Israel, Come hither, 
and hear the words of the Lord 
your God. 

10 And Joshua said, Hereby 
ye shall know that ""the living 
God is among you, and that he 

1 ver. 17. in Deut. 5. 26. 1 Sam. 17 26. 2 
Kings 19. 4. Hosea 1. 10. Malt. 16, 16. 1 
Thess. 1. 9. 

soon as the feet of the priests should 
touch them, v. 13, it was demonstrated 
that the secret of the Lord was with 
him. True greatness belongs to those 
with whom God is, whom he em- 
ploys in his service, and upon whom 
his blessing rests. The honor that 
comes from man may surround one 
with a temporary eclat, but let those 
that aspire to lasting and solid dis- 
tinction seek it in the favor of God. 

8. Ye shall stand still in Jordan. 
They Avere first required to pause on 
the brink of the stream, till the chan- 
nel was laid dry, and then they seem 
to have advanced and took their sta- 
tion in the midst of it, till all the 
people had passed over. As the en- 
tire bed of the river below the resting 
point of the ark would become dry 
by the waters running off towards 
the Dead Sea, the congregation 
might pass over in that direction 
having the ark on their right, and 
keeping at the prescribed distance of 
2,000 cubits. 

9. Come hither. Draw nigh to- 
wards me, as many as can come 
within hearing. 

10. That the living God is among 
you. Not a dull, senseless, lifeless, 
inactive deity, like the gods of the 
heathen, but .a God of life, power, 



will without fail " drive out from 
before you the Canaanites, and 
the Hittites, and the Hivitesj 
and the Perizzites, and the Gir- 
gashites, and the Amorites, and 
the Jebusites. 

11 Behold, the ark of the cov- 
enant of °the Lord of all the 
earth passeth over before you 
into Jordan. 

n Ex. 33. 2. Deut. 7. 1. Ps. 44. 2. o ver. 
13. Mic. 4 13. Zech. 4. 14, and 6. 5. 



and energy, able to work for you, and 
to put to confusion all your enemies. 
11. 7%e ark of the covenant oj the 
Lord of all the ea,rth. The original 
will admit of being rendered, ' The 
ark of the co\^enant, even the Lord of 
all the earth,' and as the Hebrew ac- 
cents favor this sense, it is adopted 
by many of the Jewish commenta- 
tors, although the current of versions 
is against it. Indeed it is not a little 
remarkable that the first edition of 
our present English version published 
in 1611, exhibits this very rendering. 
It was afterwards altered, but at what 
time, by what authority, or for what 
reasons, it is now impossible to deter- 
mine. This usage, it is contended 
by Buxtorf and others, is by no means 
confined to this passage. In repeated 
instances, as they maintain, the ap- 
pellation ' Lord ' is bestowed upon 
the ark of the covenant. Thus it is 
said the address is to the ark. Num. 
10. 35, 36 ; ' And it came to pass 
w^hen the ark set forward, that Mo- 
ses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine 
enemies be scattered ; and let them 
that hate thee flee before thee. And 
when it rested, he said. Return, O 
Lord, to the many thousands of Isra- 
el.' So also, 2 Sam. 6. 2, ' And Da- 
vid arose and went with all the peo- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER III. 



45 



12 Now therefore ^' take ye 
twelve men out of the tribes of 
Israel, out of every tribe a man. 

13 And it shall come to pass, 
"^ as soon as the soles of the feet 
of the priests that bear the ark 
of the Lord, "" the Lord of all 
the earth, shall rest in the wa- 
ters of Jordan, that the waters 
of Jordan shall be cut off from 
the waters that come down from 
above ; and they ^ shall stand 
upon an heap. 



P ch, 4. 2. q ver. 15, 16. i- ver. 11. s Ps. 
78. 13, and 114. 3. 



pie that were with him, from Baale 
of Judah, lo bring up from thence 
the ark of God. v:hose name is called 
by the name of the Lord of hosts J 
Comp. Ex. 16. 33 ; 1 Sam. 4. 7. Such 
a title, however, could only be ap- 
plied on the ground of its being the 
visible symbol of the Divine presence, 
and of the close connexion subsisting 
between the sign and the thing sig- 
nified. 

12. ToJce ye twelve men out of the 
tribes of Israel. The object of this 
selection is afterwards explained, 
ch. 4. 4, 5. They were now to be 
chosen, and to stand ready at a mo- 
ment's warning, for the service to 
which they were set apart. 

13. Tluit hear the ark of the Lord, 
the Lord of all the earth. The Heb. 
here exhibits two different words for 
' Lord,' the first niH^ Yehovah, the 
second "l"!";^ adon, which is also the 
word occurring v. 11. This seems 
to countenance the idea that the 

ark itself is called by that title. 

If The waters of Jordan shall be cut 
off f'om the waters that come doivn 
from above. More correctly render- 



14 IF And it came to pass, 
when the people removed from 
their tents to pass over Jordan, 
and the priests bearing the ^ ark 
of the covenant before the peo- 
ple ; 

15 And as they that bare the 
ark were come unto Jordan, and 
" the feet of the priests that bare 
the ark were dipped in the brim 
of the water, (for "" Jordan over- 
fioweth all his banks ^all the 
time of harvest,) 



t Acts 7. 45. 11 ver. 13. 
15. Jer. 12. 5, and49. ]9. y 
5. 10, 12. 



X 1 Chron. 12. 
ch. 4. 18, and 



ed, 'the waters of Jordan shall be 
cut off, even the waters that descend 
from above ;' but whether he speaks 
m these words of the mass of waters 
remaining above the ark, that they 
were to be cut off from those below, 
which would be speedily drained ofl", 
and leave the channel bare ; or whe- 
ther the ' waters that com.e down 
from above,' mean those that flowed 
downwards from the point where 
the ark stood above j while the res^ 
stood as a heap, it is diflicult to de- 
termine. Comparing this, however, 
Vv^ith V. 16, the first interpretation 
we think the most probable. This 
seems to have been the first intima- 
tion given to the people as to the 
manner in which they were to cross 
the river, unless we suppose such a 
transposition as we have hinted at in 
the note above, on v. 5. 

15. Jordan overfioiveth all his banks 
all the tirne of harvest. That is, the 
time of the barley harvest ; which be- 
gan in that country in our March or 
April. 1 Chron. 13. 15. Prof. Rob- 
inson remarks that he could find no 
evidence that the Jordan ever now 



46 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



16 That the waters which 
came down from above stood 
and rose up upon an heap very 
far from the city Adam, that is 
beside ^ Zaretan ; and those that 

■I 1 Kings 4. 12, and 7. 46. 

overflows its banks in the manner 
that would be supposed from the ren- 
dering of this passage ; and he adds, 
' I apprehend that even the ancient 
rise of the river has been greatly ex- 
aggerated. The sole accounts we 
have of the annual increase of its 
"waters are found in the earlier scrip- 
tural history of the Israelites ; where, 
according to the English version, the 
Jordan is said to " overflow all its 
banks " in the first month, or all the 
time of harvest. But the original 
Hebrew expresses, in these passages, 
nothing more than that the Jordan 
" was full (or filled) up to all its 
banks," meaning the banks of its 
channel; it ran wdth full banks, or 
■was brim-full. Thus understood, the 
Biblical account corresponds entirely 
to what we find to be the case at the 
present day.' — [Research.^ Vol. IT., 
p. 262). This annual swelling of 
the waters of the Jordan arises from 
the melting of the snows upon Mount 
Lebanon, in which the Jordan takes 
its rise. It probably took place on 
this occasion just before Israel was 
to pass over, and served to render the 
miracle far more stupendous and un- 
questionable. Indeed we may sup- 
pose that this season was chosen 
expressly, in order that God might 
have the better opportunity to con- 
vince his people of his Almighty 
power ; that they were under his 
immediate c?re and protection; and 
that they might never cease to con- 
fide in him in view^ of the most ap- 



came down '^ toward the sea of 
the plain even ^the salt sea, 
failed, and were cut oft*: and 
the people passed over right 
against Jericho. 

a Deut. 3. 17. b Gen. 14. 3. Num. U. 3. 



palling dangers. ' Though the op- 
position given to the salvation of 
God's people have all imaginable 
advantages, yet God can and will 
conquer it.' — Henry. 

16. Stood and rose up %ipona Kea'p, 
Being checked in their course they 
continued to accumulate and swell 
higher and higher, till they filled up 
the channel to a great distance to- 
wards the source of the river. Prob- 
ably another miracle was wrought 
in restraining the waters thus piled 
up from deluging the adjacent coun- 
try. *^ From the city Adam, that is 

beside Zaretan. The position of 
these cities is not easily ascertained. 
As to the first, nothing is kno\\ n ; 
and perhaps it was even then so ob- 
scure as to be described by its near- 
ness to Zaretan, a place of more no- 
toriety. This we learn from 1 Kings 
4. 12, was situated below Jezreel, 
near Beth-shean or Scythopolis, and 
not far from Succoth; but Succoth, 
as appears from Gen. 33. 17; Josh. 
13. 27, lay on the east of Jordan, not 
far from the lake of Gennesaret, and 
somew^here in this immediate vicin- 
ity, doubtless, was Adam situated. 
IT Passed over right against Jeri- 
cho. It is probable that the people 
crossed the river at what was after- 
wards called Beth-aba ra, or house of 
passage^ which seems to have derived 
its name from this ver}^ circumstance. 
It was here that John baptized, John 
1. 28, and that Jesus, as well as Josh- 
ua, began to be magnified. 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER IV. 



47 



17 And the priests that bare 
the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord stood firm on dry ground 
in the midst of Jordan, " and all 
the Israelites passed over on 
dry ground, until all the people 
were passed clean over Jordan. 

CHAPTER IV. 

A ND it came to pass, when 
-^--»- all the people were clean 
passed ^ over Jordan, that the 
Lord spake unto Joshua, saying, 

2 ^ Take you twelve men out 

c See Exod. 14. 29. a Deat. 27. 2, ch. 
3. 17. b ch. 3. 12. 

17. And the priests — stood firm on 
dry ground. Stood fixedly and 
immovably in the same place and 
poslure, neither pressed upon by the 
waters, nor sinking in the mire, nor 
shif ing their position. It is proba- 
ble, too, that they continued bearing 
the ark on their shoulders during the 
whole time of their standing. The 
miracle recorded in this chapter was 
in some respects more striking than 
that which marked the passage of 
the Red Sea, as in this case it could 
not be pretended that the water had 
retired from any natural cause. 
There was here neither wind nor 
tide, to the ao:ency of which the 
effect could be attributed ; and if the 
river was actually passed, at a high 
stage of its w^aters, without boats or 
bridges, the evidence of the miracle 
was irresistible — the current must 
have been suspended by a supernatu- 
ral power. 



of the people, out of every tribe 
a man, 

3 And command ye them, say- 
ing, Take you hence out of the 
midst of Jordan, out of the place 
where ^'the priests' feet stood 
firm, twelve stones, and ye shall 
carry them over with you, and 
leave them in "^the lodging-place 
where ye shall lodge this night. 

4 Then Joshua called the 
twelve men, whom he had pre- 
pared of the children of Israel, 
out of every tribe a man : 

e ch. 3. 13. cl ver. 19, 20. 



CHAPTER IV. 

2. Take you twelve men. &c. Heb. 
t3^p inp Tcehn lakem^ take ye for your- 
selves^ pL, though addressed to Josh- 



ua ; an usage of speech founded upon 
the union between a leader or ruler, 
and his people. Nothing would ap- 
pear from the phraseology itself to 
intimate that any such command had 
been before given, but as we know 
there had, ch. 3. 12, the twelve men 
here spoken of are to be understood 
of those already chosen to this service. 

3. Coriiraand ye theni. Another 
instance of the phraseology noticed 
above. Joshua is addressed con- 
jointly with the people, or, perhaps, 
rather with the officers, and required 

to give the annexed order. ^Leave 

them in the lodging-place where ye 
shall lodge this night. This was 
Gilgal, as appears from v. 19^ 20, a 
place somewhat more than six miles 
from the river Jordan. 

4. Whom he had prepared. Whom 
he had before chosen and appointed 
to that work, with a command that 
they should hold themselves in read- 
iness for it. The stones were prob- 
ably each of them as large as one 
man could conveniently carry. 

5. Pass over before the ark. These 
twelve men had probably hitherto 



•48 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



5 And Joshua said unto them. 
Pass over before the ark of the 
Lord your God into the midst 
of Jordan, and take you up eve- 
ry man of you a stone upon his 
shoulder, according unto the 
number of the tribes of the chil- 
dren of Israel: 



remained, from motives of reverence, 
somewhat behind the ark, perhaps 
near to the eastern bank of the river. 
They are now commanded to ad- 
vance, and picking: up the stones 
near the place where the priests stood, 
to ' pass over before the ark,' and 
thus emerge from the bed of Jordan, 
and when arrived to deposit the 
stones in the place commanded. 
Otherwise the words must be under- 
stood to imply, that after passing over 
with the congregation, the twelve 
men were to pass back again to the 
place w^here the ark stood, and thence 
transport the stones ; which we can- 
not but regard as a violent construc- 
tion. 

6. T^at this may be a sign among 
you. A sign that shall permanently 
remain among you ; a monument or 
memorial; a conspicuous object 
which shall be a standing witness of 
the wonderful event that has this day 
happened. Heaps, or pillars of stone, 
in commemoration of great events, 
such as covenants, victories, &c.. 
have been common among all na- 
tions from the earliest ages. See Gen. 
31. 46; Ex. 24. 4. In the present 
case, though there was no inscription 
on the stones, yet from the number 
of them, and from the place where 
they stood, it would be evident that 
they pointed to some memorable 
transaction, and of this it was to be 



6 That this may be a sign 
among you, that ^when your 
children ask their fathers in 
time to come, saying. What 
mean ye by these stones ? 

7 Then ye shall answer them, 
That ^ the waters of Jordan were 

e ver. 21. Ex. 12. 26, and 13. 14. Dent. 6 
20. Ps. 44. 1, and 78, 3-6. i ch. 3. 13, 16. 

the duty of each generation to keep 
its successors informed. It would 
likewise serve as a standing proof in 
corroboration of the matter of fact to 
those who might, in after ages, ques- 
tion the truth of the written history. 
The record of this great event might 
indeed be read in the sacred writings, 
but God, who knows the frame of his 
creatures, and how much they aro 
influenced by the objects of sense, 
kindly ordered an expedient for keep- 
ing it in more lively remembrance 
from age to age. So he has provided 
the sacrament of the Lord's supper 
to aid our understandings and affect 
our hearts by sensible symbols, though 
the same great truths which they re- 
present are plainly delivered in words 

in the inspired oracles. IT Whe.i 

your children ask, &c. Heb. "^"D 
Di'^^in ']li&^lZ5"> ki yishalun benekem, 
when your sons ask; i. e. your de- 
scendants ; not little children merely, 
but your posterity of whatever age 
Thus ' children of Israel ' is equiva- 
lent to ' sons of Israel, or Israelites.' 
'iT In time to come. Heb. ^M^ 



mahar, to-morroic, often used in th'; 
original to signify indefinitely all fu- 
ture time. Gen 30. 33. In like man- 
ner ' yesterday ' is used in a general 
sense for all past time, as Heb. 13. 8, 
'Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, 

and to-day, and forever.' IF Wliat 

mean ye by these stones? Heb. nb 



B. C. 145L] 



CHAPTER IV, 



49 



cut off before the ark of the 
covenant of the Lord ; when it 
passed over Jordan, the waters 
of Jordan were cut off: and 
these stones shall be for " a me- 
morial unto the children of Israel 
for ever. 

8 And the children of Israel 
did so as Joshua commanded, 
and took up twelve stones out 

S Ex. 12. 14. Numb, 16. 4G. 



SiJ iibi^il i2'^3^5s^M mah ha-ebdnim hd- 
elleh lakhn^ what these stones to you? 

7. Then shall ye answer thera^ That 
the loaters^ &c. This clause, as ap- 
pears from the original, requires to 
be supplied thus, ' Then shall ye an- 
swer, These stones are designed to 
commemorate the fact that the wa- 
ters,' &c. Such is undoubtedly the 
true grammatical dependence of the 

conjunction that ^^Cut off before 

the ark. As it were, at the sight of 
it, at its first approach. The clause 
respecting the cutting oiF of the wa- 
ters of Jordan occurs again in the 
same words towards the end of the 
verse, to intimate, perhaps, the won- 
derful character of the miracle, and 
that a fact of such a stupendous na- 
ture should be repeated again and 
again in the hearing of those who 
were to be instructed. -IF .4 memo- 
rial unto the children of Israel. To 
them particularly and primarily, but 
not exclusively; for the monument 
was calculated to be a witness and a 
standing reproof also to the heathen 

nations around. ^For ever. For 

an indefinite period of time ; as long 
as the nation should end-ire. 

8. The children of Israel did so. 
That is, the twelve men, who acted 
as the representatives of the whole 
body of the children of Israel and 

fv 



of the midst of Jordan, as the 
Lord spake unto Joshua, ac- 
cording to the number of the 
tribes of the children of Israel, 
and carried them over with them 
unto the place where they 
lodged, and laid them down 
there, 

9 And Joshua set up twelve 
stones in the midst of Jordan, in 



therefore bear their name, A com- 
pany or community is often said in 
the Scriptures to do that which is 
done by their constituted agents. 

9, Joshua set up tioelve stones in the 
midst of Jordan. As it is evident 
from the connexion that this was 
actually done by the twelve selected 
persons above mentioned, it is as- 
cribed to Joshua only as commanding 
and superintending it, just as the 
building of the temple is ascribed to 
Solomon, Two sets of stones there- 
fore v/ere erected in memory of this 
miraculous passage, one at Gilgal, 
the o:her in the bed of Jordan. Should 
it be asked how the latter could serve 
as a monument, placed as they were 
in the middle of the stream, and lia- 
ble to be concealed below the surface, 
we answer, that as nothing is said of 
their being each of them, like the 
others, of a size suitable for one man 
to carry, they might have been vastly 
larger, and so based upon a lower 
heap as to be generally visible, and 
thus indicate the very spot where the 
priests stood with the ark ; for it is to 
be remarked, that the Jordan, at its 
ordinary stages, is not a deep river, 
and that its waters are remarkably 
clear and transparent, so that an ob- 
ject like this might probably always 
be seen except in the time of a high 



60 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



the place where the feet of the 
priests which bare the ark of 
the covenant stood : and they 
are there unto this day. 

IT 10 For the priests which bare 
the ark stood in the midst of 
Jordan, until every thing was 
finished that the Lord command- 
ed Joshua to speak unto the 



people, according to all that 
Moses commanded Joshua : and 
the people hasted and passed 

over. 

11 And it came to pass, when 
all the people were clean passed 
over, that the ark of the Lord 
passed over, and the priests in 
the presence of the people. 



freshet. From the native force of 
the Heb. term for 'set up/ which is 
properly to ' rear up,' ' to erect,' i. e. 
to raise to a considerable height, it 
may be reasonably inferred that they 
were placed so as to be ordinarily 

visible. IT In the place where the 

feet of the priests— stood. Heb. mn 
tD">Di:n "^i^"! ^^>2 tahath matztzab ra- 
gle hakkohanim, under the standing- 
place of the feet of the priests. It. was 
here thai the stones vvere to be erected 
but from whence they were taken is 
not said. From aught that appears 
in the text they might have been 
gathered in the adjacent fields, as 
some commentators have imagined. 
-^\And they are there unto this day 



Either the words of Joshua, who 
wrote this history near the close of 
his life, and about twenty years after 
the event occurred, or added at a 
subsequent period by Samuel or Ezra, 
or some other inspired man by whom 
the sacred canon was revised. 

10. According to all that Moses 
comma7ided Joshua. It does not ap- 
pear that Moses any where gave 
Joshua a charge respecting this pas- 
sage of Israel over the Jordan. The 
words therefore are to be understood 
of the general instructions given him 
by Moses, requiring him to follow 
the Divine conduct in all particulars, 
as made known to him through the 



agency of Eleazar the High Priest. 
Num. 27. 21-23. So he did on the 

present occasion, IT The people 

hasted and passed over. Perhaps un- 
der some apprehensions that the 
standing mass of waters on their 
right might be suftered to give way 
while they were crossing. Even 
where the general acting of faith is 
strong, the weakness of nature some- 
times causes the spirit to waver.— 
This passage of the Israe:i.es through 
the Jordan, is not improperly consid- 
ered as an emblem of the Christian's 
transition from the dreary wilderness 
of this world to the Canaan that is 
above. When the time is arrived 
for passing by that unknown, untrod- 
den path, we are apt to fear lest we 
should sink in the deep waters, and 
never attain the wished for end. But 
God has promised to be with ns, to 
make ' the depths of the sea a way 
for the ransomed to pass over,' and 
to bring us in safety to the land that 
flow^eth with milk and honey. The 
ark of his covenant will go before, 
both for our guidance and protection, 
and under its conduct we may cheer- 
fully bid adieu to the friends who 
^tand weepii g on the bank. 

11. In the presence of the people. 
Who stood upon the bank beholding 
witi admiratioQ c.ndawethe last act 
of this great miracle. 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER IV. 



51 



12 And '^ the children of Reu- 
ben, and the children of Gad, 
and half the tribe of Manasseh, 
passed over armed before the 
children of Israel, as Moses 
spake unto them : 

13 About forty thousand pre- 
pared for war, passed over be- 
fore the Lord unto battle, to the 
plains of Jericho. 

14 1^ On that day the Lord 
' magnified Joshua in the sight 

h Num. 32. 20, 27, 28. i cli. 3. 7. 



12. Passed over armed before the 
children of Israel. The original 
phrase here is precisely the same 
wirh that rendered in the preceding 
verse, in ' the presence of,' and, as we 
conceive, does not clearly intimate 
that they led the van, for the order 
of marching of the different tribes 
had been expressly prescribed in the 
wilderness, Num. 10 ; and it is not 
probable that it was departed from 
on this occasion. According to this 
order the tribe of Judah had the 
precedence. What is affirmed of 
the tvv'o tribes and a half here, we 
suppose, is, that in pursuance of their 
promises,, ch. 1. 16-18, they passed 
over ' in the presence ' of their breth- 
ren, w-ho were thus all witnesses to 
their fidelity. 

13. Passed, over before the Lord. 
That is, probably, before the ark of 
the Lord, the symbol of the Divine 
presence. Otherwise it may imply 
' as in the sight of the Lord,' 'reli- 
giously,' '• conscientiously.' 

14. Magnified Joshua. Caused 
him to stand high in the esteem and 
respect of the people, so that they 
henceforth yielded to him the same 
reverential fear and ready obedience 
which they had done to Moses. God 



of all Israel, and they feared 
him as they feared Moses, all 
the days of his life. 

15 And the Lord spake unto 
Joshua, saying, 

16 Command the priests that 
bear ^ the ark of the testimony, 
that they come up out of Jordan. 

17 Joshua therefore command- 
ed the priests, saying, Come ye 
up out of Jordan. 

18 And it came to pass, when 

k Exod. 25. ]6, 22. 

now fully confirmed his authority, 
and showed that He was with him. 
That honoris ever most to be desired 
w'hich is the result of a strict, con- 
scientious, and uniform observance 
of all the Divine precepts. 



IT They feared him as theij feared, 

Moses, all the days of his life. The 
' his ' here may refer either to Joshua 
or to Moses. The latter is most ac-. 
cordant with the Heb. accents, and 
It avoids, moreover, a certain air of 
incongruity in the letter of the text, 
as if the Israelites on that day feared 
Joshua all che days of his life. 

15. The Lord spake unto Joshua^ 
saying. This may be rendered ' had 
spoken,' and the whole paragraph, 
V. 15-19, be considered as a detailed 
account of what is stated more gene- 
rally. V. 11. These verses seem de- 
signed to acquaint us with the main 
ground or reason to w^hich, under 
God, it was owing that Joshua was 
so signally magnified on that occa- 
sion. ' The priests did not quit their 
station till Joshua, w^ho had com- 
manded them thither, ordered them 
thence ; nor did he thus order them 
till the Lord commanded him : so 
obedient were all parties to the word 
of God.' Scott. 



62 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



the priests that hare the ark of 
the covenant of the Lord were 
come up out of the midst of 
Jordan, and the soles of the 
priests' feet were lifted up unto 
the dry land, that the waters 
of Jordan returned unto their 
place, ^and flowed over all his 
banks, as they did before. 

19 IT And the people came up 
out of Jordan on the tenth day 

1 ch. 3. 15. 

18. The soles of the priests^ feet 
were lifted up unto the dry land. 
Heb. IpriD nitteku, ivere pkickcd up. 
As upon the entrance into the river, 
the stream was cut off as soon as the 
soles of the priests' feet touched the 
water, ch. 3. 15, so now as soon as 
they touched the dry land it again 
resumes its natural course. This 
would make it evident that the arrest 
of the river was the effect solely of 
Divine power, and not owing to any 

secret natural cause. IF Mowed 

over all his banks as they did before. 
Heb. diubnj ^1?2niD kithmol shilshom, 
as yesterday and the third day. 

19. On the tenth day of the first 
month. That is, of the month Nisan, 
just forty years, lacking five days, 
after their departure out of Egypt. 
This was four days before the an- 
nual feast of the Passover, and on 
the very day when the paschal Lamb 
was to be set apart for this purpose, 
Ex. 12. 3 ; God having so ordered it 
in his providence, that their entrance 

^ into the promised land should coin- 
cide with the period of that festival. 

^ And encamped in Gilgal. In 

the place afteru-ards called Gilgal, 
ch. 5. 9, for here the name is given 
it by anticipation. It is doubtful 
whether there was either city or 



of the first month, and encamped 
""in Gilgal, in the east border 
of Jericho. 

20 And " those twelve stones 
which they took out of Jordan, 
did Joshua pitch in Gilgal. 

21 And he spake unto the 
children of Israel, saying, ° When 
your children shall ask their 
fathers in time to come, saying. 
What mean these stones ? 

m ch. 5. 9. n ver. .3. o ver. 6. 

town in that place before the arrival 
of the Israelites. It was situated near 
the Jordan, on the eastern extremity 
of the plain of Jericho. There are 
at present no certain traces of the 
name or the place in that region. 

20. Did Joshua pitch in Gilgal, 
Heb. tD'^pn hekim, erect, rear up. A 
foundation of stone- work or a mound 
of earth, was probably first laid, of 
considerable height, and then the 
twelve stones placed on the top of it ; 
for twelve such stones as a man 
could carry six miles on his shoulder, 
could scarcely have made any ob- 
servable pile or pillar of memorial ; 
bat erected on such a base as we have 
supposed, they would be very con- 
spicuous, and strikingly answer the 
purpose for which they were designed. 

21. Shall ask — i7i time to come. 
Heb. ^'nJZ mahar, to-morrow. See 
V. 6, 7. From their number, size, 
position, &c., and from there not 
being any others near them of the 
same kind, they would naturally ex- 
cite inquiries. ' How came these 
stones here'? What is meant by 
them V This would afford to parent* 
an excellent opportuniiy to turn ic 
account the inquisitiveness of their 
children, to make them early ac- 
quainted with the wonderful works 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER V. 



53 



22 Then ye shall let your 
children know, saying, ^ Israel 
came over this Jordan on dry 
land, 

23 For the Lord your God 
dried up the waters of Jordan 
from before you, until ye were 
passed over, as the Lord your 
God did to the Red Sea, "^ which 
he dried up from before us, until 
we were gone over : 

24 "" That all the people of the 

P ch. 3. 17. q Exod, 14. 21. 

of God, and to train them up in his 
fear. We should encourage young 
people to seek instruction, and should 
be glad of ev^ery thing that may afford 
us an occasion of making known to 
them the wonders of redeeming love. 

22. Israel came over this Jordan on 
dry land. In commemoration of 
which remarkable fact, these stones 
are placed here, 

23. For the Lord your God dried 
up the waters of Jordan from before 
you. The parents are still supposed 
to be speaking to their children. It 
is remarkable that they address them 
as if they were living and present at 
the miraculous passage of the Jor- 
dan, whereas they then existed only 
in the loins of their fathers. But it is 
not uncommon for the sacred writers 
to speak of the nation of Israel, 
through every period of its existence, 
as if they v/ere but of one generation, 
so that what really happened to those 
that lived at one age, is said to have 
happened to those that lived at ano- 
ther, perhaps far remote. This gives 
us a very impressive idea of the light 
in which God viewed that people, 
viz., as morally one, as one great col- 
lective person continually subsisting. 
Thus Ps. 66. 6, the writer speaks as I 



earth might know the hand of 
the Lord, that it is ' mighty : 
that ye might ^fear the Lord 
your God for ever. 

CHAPTER V, 

AND it came to pass, when 
all the kings of the Amo- 
rites which were on the side of 
Jordan westward, and all the 

r 1 Kings 8. 42, 43. 2 Kings 19. 19. Ps. 
106. 8. s Ex. 15. 16. 1 Chron. 29. 12. Ps. 
89. 13. ^ Ex. 14. 31. Deut. 6. 2. Ps.89.7. 
Jer. 10. 7. 



if he and his contemporaries were 
personally present at the passage of 
the Red Sea, ' He turned the sea into 
dry land: they went through the 
flood on foot ; there dAd ice rejoice in 
him^^ though this happened ages be- 
fore their time. So also our Saviour 
speaks as if the Jews of his day were 
living in the days of Moses, John 6. 
32, * Verily I say unto you, Moses 
gave you not .that bread from heaven.' 
On the same principle Joshua speaks 

here. % The Red Sea, lohich he 

dried up from before us. This is 
another instance of the usage just 
adverted to. He speaks of the Red 
Sea's being dried up from before the 
people whom he then, addressed, 
whereas none of that generation 
were now living except himself and 
Caleb, the rest of them having per- 
ished in the wilderness through un- 
belief and rebellion. It is also to be 
remarked, that this passage through 
the Jordan being here said to have 
been accomplished in the same man- 
ner with that through the Red Sea, 
the inference is legitimate, that the 
waters of that sea were actually 
divided like those of the river, and 
that they did not merely retire from 
the shore, as some have supposed. 



54 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



kings of the Canaanites ^ which 
were by the sea, ^ heard that the 

a Num. 13. 29. b Exod. 15. 14, 15. ch. 
2. 9, 10, 11, Ps. 48. 6, Ezek. 21. 7. 

CHAPTER V. 

1. And it came to pass, &c. As this 
verse is much more intimately rela- 
ted to what goes before than to what 
follows, it would probably have been 
better to have joined it to the preced- 
ing chapter. The present would 
then have commenced wiih an en- 
tirely new subject. IT All the kings 

of the Amorites — and of the Cayiaan- 
ites. As the whole land of Canaan 
w^as of comparatively small extent, 
the several nations^ as they are called, 
which inhabited it, must have been 
mere clans or hordes, and what are 
termed their kings nothing more than 
petty chieftains, ruling over territo- 
ries scarcely larger than the coun- 
ties in many of the states of the 
American union. The term ki7ig, 
in modern usage, conveys the idea 
of a power and dominion altogether 
more extensive than was possessed 
by these petty potentates. The Amo- 
rites and the Canaanites here men- 
tioned probably stand for the whole 
of the devoted nations, they being 
specified on account of their superi- 
ority to the rest in numbers, power, 
and courage. The nation of the 
Amorites occupied both sides of the 
Jordan; two of their kings, Sihon 
and Og, had already been slain on 
the eastern side, Deut. 4. 46, 47. 



IT Which loere by the sea. The Medi- 
terranean sea; along the coasts of 
which the Canaanitish tribes, pro- 
perly so called, were spread. This 
region was afierwards known by the 
name of Phoenicia, of which Tyre 
and Sidon were the principal cities. 



Lord had dried up the waters 
of Jordan from before the child- 
of Israel, until 



ren 



we were 



passed over, that their heart 



On this account the same person who 
is called ' a woman of Canaan ' by 
Matthew, 15. 22, is called by Luke, 

7. 26, ' a Syro-Phoenician.' ^ Had 

dried wp the waters of Jordan. 
Which they regarded as the natural 
bulwark of their country, one too 
strong for the enemy to break through, 
especially during the season of its 
annual overflow. It should seem 
that the Canaanites. if they had acted 
according to the rules of war, v\'ould 
have opposed the Israelites in their 
passage. But the destruction of Pha- 
raoh at the Red Sea, some time be- 
fore, and the recent victories over 
Sihon and Og, had spread such a 
panic through the land, that they did 
not dare to avail themselves of any 
supposed advantage, lest they should 
perish after their example. The 
event, indeed, shows how vain any 
attempt on their part would have 
been. It shows, too, that when the 
measure of any people's iniquities is 
full, they shall in no wdse escape the 
vengeance of God. Whatever ob- 
stacles may appear to lie in the way, 
and v/hatever barrier an ungodly 
w^orld may have, or think they have, 
for their defence, God will surely 
make a w^ay for his indignation. 
Opposing myriads shall be only as 
the stubble before the fire of his 

\vrath . IT Until v:e weie passed over. 

These words intimate the writer to 

have been one of the company. 

IT Their heart melted. In mcdern 
language we read of the heart melt- 
ing with pity and being dissolved 
with grief. The sacred writers, on 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER V. 



55 



melted ; ^ neither was there spi- 
rit in them any more, because 
of the children of Israel. 
2 IF At that time the Lond said 



1 Kin^s 10, 5, 



this and similar occasions, apply the 
same metaphor, wiih equal truth and 
beauty, to the operation of fear and 

terror. U Neither was there spirit 

■in them any more. The special prov- 
idence of God is"to be recognized in 
the panic which fell upon these na- 
tions at this particular juncture. It 
gave the Israelites just the opportu- 
nity they required, to administer the 
rite of circumcision, and to keep the 
Passover securely and without dis- 
turbance. Had it been otherwise, 
and had the Canaanites attacked 
them, as Simeon and Levi did the 
Shechemites ivhen they icere sore^ they 
would have taken them at every dis- 
advantage. 

2. At tha^t time,. As if in allusion 
to the remarkable circumstances by 
which they were now surrounded; 
encamped in the midst of an enemy's 
coimtry, and yet that enemy provi- 
dentially restrained from harming 
them, so that they were commanded, 
as if in their very sight and presence, 
to reduce themselves to a condition 
of comparative weakness and help- 
lessness. ' This formed a very great 
trial of their faith, and their prompt 
and universal obedience in such crit- 
ical circumstances, manifested a con- 
fidence in the Lord's protection, and 
a submission to his will, which con- 
firm the sentiment that this was the 
best of all the generations of Israel.' 

Scott. % MaJce thee sharp Icnires. 

Heb. 'Q'^'Tl mn-in Y^ nin^J eseh lekah 
harboth tzurim, prepare^ make ready ^ 
knives of rock^ stone, or flint. Of such 



unto Joshua, Make thee "^ sharp 
knives, and circumcise again the 
children of Israel the second 
time. 

<1 Exod. 4. 2.5, 

materials were the edge-tools of all 
nations made before the use of iron 
became common. At this day, 
among most of the savage tribes in- 
habiting the islands of the sea, or 
other baibarous climes, the same cus- 
tom prevails. Their knives, and also 
iheix arroiv and spear-heads, are made 
of stone ; and similar relics of the 
aborigines of our own country are 
ofcen turned up by the plough. It is 
not probable that the Israelites were 
altogether strangers to the use of iron, 
or were unfurnished with various 
metallic tools, as their different fab- 
rications in the wilderness force upon 
us the belief that they must have em- 
ployed both iron and steel ; but frcm 
the case of Zipporah, Ex. 4. 25, it 
appears to have been unlawful to use 
any kind of metal in this religious 
rite, and this opinion is confirmed by 
the practice of a tribe in Ethiopia at 
this day, who, professing to follow 
the Mosaic institution, perform the 
rite of circumcision, according to 
Ludolf, icith knives of stone. It is 
supposed too that such instruments 
were not so liable to cause inflamma- 
tion, as knives or razors of metal. 

^And circumcise again the children 
of Israel the second time. Heb. 
i?3 !2TI31 xeshub mol, return (and) 
circumcise. This is not to be under- 
stood as a command to repeat circum- 
cision on those individu- Is who had 
already received it. This would 
have been at once unnecessary and 
impracticable. It merely implies 
that they were to renew the observ- 



i:>6 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. I45I. 



3 And Joshua made him sharp 
knives, and circumcised the chil- 

ance of a rite which had been neg- 
lected in their travels in the desert. 
The command was given now, at 
this early period after their entrance 
into the premised land, (1) That the 
reproach of Egypt might be rolled 
away ; (2) That they might be duly 
prepared to celebrate the Passover, 
of which none might eat who were 
imcircumcised^ Ex. 12. 48 ; and (3) 
As a trial of thei? faith under the cir- 
cumstances in which they were now 
placed, surrounded by enemies intent 
upon their destruction, and who 
could desire no greater advantage 
than such a crippled state of their in- 
vaders would give them. ' There is 
a general circumcision now of the 
people, as there had been at their 
coming out of Egypt ; and as God 
then closed the Egyptians in three 
days' darkness that they eould not 
stir, so now he striketh the Canaan- 
ites with terror, that they dare not 
stir to hurt the people while they 
w^ere sore. Circumcision sealed the 
lease of the land of Canaan ; and 
therefore as soon as they set foot on 
it they must be circumcised.^ Light- 
foot. Had Joshua acted on the prin- 
ciples common to all other generals, 
when invading an enemy ^s countr)^ 
lie would either have prosecuted his 
advantages instantly, while his ene- 
mies were filled with terror, and 
crushed them before they had time 
to prepare for their defence ; or he 
would have fortified his own camp 
to prevent surprise, and to be in con- 
stant readiness for any emergency 
that might ari<e. But instead of 
adopting any military plans what- 
ever, the very day after he had in- 



dren of Israel at the hill of the 
foreskins. 

vaded the country, without v/aiting 
to know what effect the invasion 
woT*ld have^ he appoints nearly every 
male in the congregation to be cir- 
cumcised ! Thus by one act disa- 
bling the greate? part of h?.s whole 
army from even standing in their 
own defence ! What but a principle 
of the most triumphant faith could 
have brought them {& submit to sueh 
an injunction as this 1 

3. And Joshua made hivi sharp 
knives. That is, he caused them to 
be naade, they weye made by his or- 
der. ^\Cirmcvicised the cMMre% of 

Israel. Meaning those of them who 
had not been already circumcised, 
those who had been born in the wil- 
derness and were under forty years 
of age. This he did by measis of his 
agents. As the number to whom the 
rite was to be administered was im- 
mensely large, and the time allotted 
for it short, a great many hands must 
necessarily have been engaged in it. 
Probably any one who was himself 
circumcised, was authorized to per- 
form it. In ordinary circumstances 

it is proper to stand upon instituted J 
observances with great exactness, « 
and to have religious rites performed 
by appropriate officers, but when pe- 
culiar emergencies arise, such scru- 
pulousness must sometimes be waiv- 
ed, and rituals give way to essentials. 
God wnll have mercy rather than 
sacrifice, when only one can be ren- 
dered him. IT At the hill of the 

foreskins. So called from the hil- 
lock of foreskins, the result of the 
transaction. 

4. And this is the cause^ &c. The 
omission in this case was probably 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER V, 



67 



4 And this is the cause why 
Joshua did circumcise : ' All the 
people that came out of Egypt, 
that were malesj even all the men 
of war died in the wilderness by 
the way, after they came out of 

Egypt. 

5 i\ ow all the people that came 
out were circumcised ; but all 
the people that were born in the 
wilderness by the way as they 
came forth out of Egypt, thejn 
they had not circumcised. 

6 For the children of Israel 
walked ^ forty years in the wil- 
derness, till all the people that 

e Num. 14. 29 and 26. 64. 65. Deut. 2. 16. 
f Nam. 14. 33. Deut. 1. 3, and 2. 7, 14. Ps. 
95. 10. 

-^dth the Divine connivance, as the 
people knew not the precise times 
when they Avere to march, and a re- 
moval immediately after the opera- 
tion might have been dangerous to 
tender infants. Moreover, as one 
design of this rite was to distinguisA 
the Israelites from all other people, 
it was not so necessary to be admin- 
istered while they were secluded 
from the world, for forty 3^ears in the 
wilderness. This instance, however, 
is not to be pleaded as authorizing 
the neglect or postponement of any 
Divine ordinance in common circum- 
stances, 

6. Walked forty years. Led for 
that time a wandering, unsettled life. 

IT Till the people — icere consumed, 

Heb. ^13n Cn ^:d nS? ad H torn 
haggoi. It is not a little remarkable 
that the word here rendered people 
f n) is not the usual term employed 
to denote the peculiar people ^ but that 
which almost invariably designates 
the Gentiles, or heathen^ in contradis- 



were men of war which came 
out of Egypt were consumed, 
because they obeyed not the 
voice of the Lord : unto whom 
the Lord sware that ^ he would 
not show them the land which 
the Lord sware unto their fathers 
that he would give us, ^ a land 
that floweth with milk and 
honey. 

7 And 'their children, whom 
he raised up in their stead, them 
Joshua circumcised : for they 
were uncircumcised, because 
they had not circumcised them 
by the way. 



ff Num. 14. 23. Ps. 95. 11. Heb. 3. 11. 
h Exod. 3. 8. i Num. 14. 31. Deut. 1. 39. 



tinction from the race of Israel. We 
know of no reason for its adoption 
here, unless it be to intimate, that 
they had, by their deportment, ren- 
dered themselves unworthy the name 
and privileges of Israelites. They 
were doubtless those of whom it is 
elsewhere said, that ' their carcases 
fell in the wilderness,' a doom which 
befell them by reason of their rebel- 
lion. -^ Would not show them, 

Heb. dm^^n harotham^ cause to S€C, 
i. e. would not permit them to enjoy. 
Thus Eccles. 2. 24, ' There is nothing 
better for a man^ than that he should 
eat and drink, and that he should 
maJce his soul enjoy (Heb. r,&5 Mi^^n 
TLTD her ah eth naphsho^ cause his soul 
to see) good in his labor.' Ps. 4. 6, 
' Who will shoio us any good V 
(Heb. 1!i^'T^ ^12 mi yarenu, who will 
cause us to see, i. e. to enjoy, to have 
;he fruition of good). 

7. Their children v:hom he raised 
up in their stead. Or, Heb. tS'^ptl 
hekim. caused to stand, made to sw^- 



58 



JOSHUA 



[B. C. 1451 



8 And it came to pass when 
they had done circumcising all 
the people, that they abode in 
their places in the camp, ^ till 
they were whole. 

vive, preserved. The writer's design 
seems to be^ to state a contrast in the 
lot of the fathers and the children, 
using the term ' raised up,' in oppo- 
sition to ' consumed,' in the preceding- 
verse. The one he destroyed for 
their rebellion, the other he gracious- 
ly preserved alive, established, caused 
to subsist. See JNote on Ex. 9. 16, 
where this sense of the term is amply 
confirmed. The words contain a 
fulfilment of the promise given in 
connexion with the threatening, 
Num. 14. 29-31. 

8. Till they were tcholc. Till they 
were healed. Heb. Cni'^ri "IIP ad 
hayofham, until they lived. The 
original is, in repeated instances, 
used to signify being restored to health. 
Thus Num.21. 8, 'Everyone that 
is bitten, when he looketh upon it, 
shall live,^ i. e. be recovered. 2 Kings 
8. 8, ' Shall I recover of this disease V 
Heb. ' shall I live?' Is. 38. 21, ' Lay 
it for a plaster on the boil, and he 
shall recover;' Heb. 'shall live.'' 
The particle ' till ' does not imply 
that they abode in their tents no longer 
than during the time of their recov- 
ery ; for they remained there w^hile 
keeping the Passover. The same 
remark is to be made of the import 
of this word in numerous other in- 
stances. 

9. This day have I rolled away the 
reproach of Egypt. It has been much 
disputed by commentators what is 
meant by ' the reproach of Egypt.' 
We take the expression, in a very 
full sense, to mean the reproach con- 



9 And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, this day have I rolled 
away ^ the reproach of Egypt 

k See Gen. 34. 25. I Gen. 34. 14. 1 Sam. 
14. 6. See Lev 18. 3. ch. 24. 14. Ezek. 
20. 7, and 23 3, 8. 



necled vjith Egypt, in whatever way, 
whether actively or passively. (1) 
Actively ; inasmuch as the Israelites 
themselves, while in the wilderness, 
did virtually reproach the Most High 
in respect to the land of Egypt, griev- 
ing that they had left it, wishing 
that they had died there, charging 
him with leading them out thence 
to slay them in the desert, and pro- 
po.sing to appoint a leader and to re- 
tarn thither. The 14th chapter of 
Numbers details these murmuring 
complaints, and shows that God was 
exceedingly angry vdth the people 
on this account, and would have de- 
stroyed them but for the intercession 
of Moses. But nowthe guilt of that 
conduct was to be rolled away or 
pardoned, they were no longer on 
account of it to be kept out of pos- 
session of the promised land; and 
not only so, they should never have 
any more the least occasion or in- 
ducement to vent such groundless 
reproaches. By being brought into 
Canaan in so gracious and glorious 
a manner, and having every prom- 
ise fulfilled to them, all occasion of 
complaint was for ever cut off. (2) 
Passively ; their bondage in Egypt 
w^as, in a sense, a reproach and a 
disgrace to them ; it would be so 
accounted by other nations, while it 
continued, and they would be dispar- 
aged by reason of it. It is probable 
also that the Egyptians themselves, 
seeing them wander so long in the 
wilderness, reproached and taunted 
them, as if brought there to be de- 



B. C. 145L] 



CHAPTER V. 



69 



from ofi* you : wherefore the 
name of the place is called '"Gil- 
gal unto this day. 
10 11^ And the children of Israel 



i» ch. 4. 19. 



stroyed ; but now, having entered 
Canaan in triumph, and being put in 
possession of all the covenanted bless- 
ings promised to the seed of Abra- 
ham, of which circumcision was the 
s€al. this reproach was henceforih 
done away. Both the disgrace of 
their bondage and the contemptuous 
aspersions of their oppressors, should 
cease from this time forward for ever. 
II Wherefore the name of the 



place is called Gilgol unto this day. 
That is, 'rolling,' 'rolling away.' 
Gilgal was situated between Jericho 
and ihe river Jordan, about one mile 
and a half, or two miles, from the 
former, and six from the latter. 
Nodiing of this city now remains; 
but travellers are shown a pile of 
stones denominated Galgal<i^ which, 
though at a considerable distance 
from the site of the ancient Gilgal, 
is supposed by some to be the monu- 
ment erected by Joshua. The clause 
' unto this day,' sufficiently indicates 
that the events related in the book of 
Joshua, or at least in this part of it, 
were not consigned to writing imme- 
diately upon their occurrence, but 
after the lapse of some considerable 
time. 

10. And kept the passover, Heb. 
* and made the passover.' The third 
fram its institution. The iirst was 
observed in Egypt on the eve of their 
departure, the second at Sinai on the 
following year. Num. 9. 1, 3, while 
during the long interval down to the 
present time it had been wholly sus- 
pended. Amos 5. 25. IT On the 



encamped in Gilgal, and kept 
the passover " on the fourteenth 
day of the month at even, in the 
plains of Jericho. 

^ Exod. 12. 6. Num. 9. o. 



fourteenth day of the month. That 
is, the fourteenth day of the first 
month, or Nisan, — From this re- 
markable portion of the sacred nar- 
rative we may learn, (1.) That in 
whatever circumstances we are 
placed, religion should be our first 
concern. If ever there Avere circum- 
stances w'hich would seem to justify 
the postponement of religious du- 
tieS; one would think they were those 
of Joshua on this occasion, when he 
had but just set foot on the land vrhere 
great and powerful nations were 
prepared to combat for their very 
existence. Yet we behold him calmly 
and sedately engaging in the duties 
of religion, as if it were of vastly 
more consequence that God should 
be honored and served in the way of 
his appointment, than that the preser- 
vation or triumph of Israel should be 
secured. (2.) To place implicit con- 
fidence in God, even in the midst of 
the most appalling dangers. Nothing, 
to human view, could have been 
more rash or perilous than for the 
chosen people, just at this juncture, 
to suspend all their miliiary prepara- 
tions, and give themselves to the 
celebration of a religious festival. 
But conscious of being in the way 
of dut}', they reposed so strong a con- 
fidence in the protecting power of 
Jehovah, that they gave themselves 
no concern as to the many dangers 
by which they were surrounded. 
Provided our motives and our con- 
duct are right, we can be in no hazard 
of confiding too implicitly in God. 



60 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



1 1 And they did eat of the old 
corn of the land on the morrow 
after the passover, unleavened 
cakes and parched corn in the 
self-same day. 

12 IT And " the manna ceased 
on the morrow after they had 

o Exod. 16. 33, 

11. And they did eat of the old corn 
of the land. Of the old grain, of what- 
ever kind it were. This they proba- 
bly found in abundance in the de- 
serted granaries of the inhabitants, 
who had fled away, and betaken them- 
selves for safety to the defenced city 
of Jericho. The original phrase, 
howev^er, may be rendered simply, 
* They did eat of the product or 7jield- 
ing of the earth,' in contradistinclion 
from the manna which came from 

heaven. IT And parched corn. 

That is, the new corn of the present 
year, which they found standing in 
the fields. The new or green corn 
was parched to enable them more 
easily to grind it for food. This 
would not be necessary in respect to 

old corn. IF On the morrow after 

the passover. Meaning, probably, on 
the sixteenth day of the month ; for 
the paschal lamb was killed and 
roasted on the fourteenth, and the 
feast began that night, which, accord- 
ing to their reckoning, formed a part 
of the fifteenth day, through the 
whole of which the feast continued, 
so that the sixteenth day was the 
morrow after the passover^ when they 
were required by the Law (Lev. 23. 
10, 11) to offer to God the wave-sheaf 
of the first fruits, and then were 

allowed to eat the rest. % In the 

self -same day. Perhaps importing 
the very great eagerness of the people 
to feast upon the fruits of the land as 



eaten of the old corn of the 
land ; neither had the children 
of Israel manna any more ; but 
they did eat of the fruit of the 
land of Canaan that year. 

13 IT And it came to pass 
when Joshua was by Jericho, 



soon as they might lawfully do it. 
Having previously renewed their 
covenant with God and partaken of 
its seals, circumcision and the pass- 
over, they wished at once to enter 
upon the enjoyment of all the rights 
and privileges thereby confirmed to 
them. 

12. And the manna ceased on tht 
morrow. Because it was now no 
longer necessary. God would not 
have us expect extraordinary or mi- 
raculous supplies when they may be 
procured by ordinary means. The 
sudden cessation of the manna would 
teach the people also very impres- 
sively that it was not an ordinary 
production of nature, that it had not 
fallen for so long a time by chance, 
or, like the dew, in consequence of 
fixed laws, but that it was a special 
and preternatural gift of the Divine 
goodness. We are prone to look 
upon our common mercies as rtiat- 
ters of course^ and God sometimes 
withdraws them to teach us our de- 
pendence more efljsciually. — ' The 
word and ordinances of God are spi- 
ritual manna, with which God nour- 
ishes his people in this wilderness, 
but when we come to the heavenly 
Canaan, this manna will cease, foi 
we shall then no longer have need 
of it.' Henry, 

13. When Joshua was by Jericho. 
Heb. in^"^:: berihOy in Jericho ; i. e. 
in the plains of Jericho, in the couc- 



B C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER V. 



61 



that he lifted up his eyes and 
looked, and behold, there stood 
P a man over against him "^ with 

try or territory immediately adjoining- 
Jericho, and called by the same name 
probably at some distance from the 
camp, whither he may have repaired 
for the purpose of observing in person 
the position of the city and the most 
favorable point of attack. The sixth 
chapter ought certainly to have com- 
menced here, as the subject now en- 
tered upon is entirely new, and the 
present arrangement most unnatu- 
rally divides the communication 
w^hich Joshua had with the angel, 
and which is continued to ch. 6. 5. 

^\T/iere stood a man. One in the 

appearance of a man, one whom 
Joshua at first took for a man. That 
he was a superhuman being, how- 
ever, is evident from wiiat follows ; 
and there seems no good reason to 
dissent from the established opinion 
of both ancient and modern exposi- 
tors that this was no other than the 
Son of God, the Eternal Word, ap- 
pearing in that form which he was 
afterwards to assume for the redemp- 
tion of men. The reasons for this 
opinion are, (1) The title which he 
here gives himself, * Captain of the 
host of the Lord,' which is but ano- 
ther form of the name ' Lord of hosts/ 
implying the ruler of all the heavenly 
hosts, and which is evidently the ap- 
propriate title of Jehovah- Jesus. (2) 
His acceptance of the worship or 
adoration which Joshua here pays 
him. This an angel or any created 
being would undoubtedly have re- 
fused. Comp. Rev. 19. 10; 22. 9; 
Judg. 13. 16. Here, however, instead 
of reproving Joshua for doing him 
too much honor, he commands him 
6 



his sword drawn in his hand • 

P Gen. 18. 2, and 32. 24. Ex. 23 23. Zech. 
1. 8. Act.s 1. 10. q Numb. 22. 23. 

to do still more, by ' loosing his shoes 
Irom ofi* his "feet ;' thus insisting upon 
the highest acknowledgment of the 
Divine presence which was in use 
among the eastern nations. (3; From 
the place being made holy by his 
presence, which was the special pre- 
rogatlv^e of God, Ex. 3, 5; and (4) 
From his being expressly called ' Je- 
hovah,' ch. 6. 2, which passage un- 
doubtedly forms a part of the present 
narrative, as otherwise he must have 
appeared without any ostensible ob- 
ject, neither delivering any message, 
making any promise, nor uttering 
any command, except merely that 
Joshua should loose his shoes from 

his feet. -^Over against him. As 

if with a hostile intent, in somewhat 
of a threatening attitude. The same 
phrase in the original occurs Dan. 
10. 13, ' The prince of the kingdom 
of Persia iciihstood me (Heb. ' stood 

over against me.') ^ With his 

drawn sicord in his hand. As a sym- 
bol of the character in w^hich he was 
now to manifest himself in behalf of 
Joshua and Israel. So he is else- 
w\here termed, ' A man of war,' Ex. 
15. 3. His appearing in this form 
would serve also not only to justify 
the war in which Joshua was now 
engaged, to show him that it was of 
God, who had given him his com- 
mission to kill and slay, but to en- 
courage him to prosecute it w^ith vi- 
gor. If God was for him, who could 
be against himl He had indeed 
previously received many promises 
of success, but God is often graciously 
pleased to confirm and follow up his 
promises, by signal manifestations of 



62 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451. 



and Joshua went unto him, and ' 
said unio him, Art thou for us, 
or for our adversaries ? 

14 And he said, Nay ; but as 
' captain of the host of the Lord 
am I now come. And Joshua 



r See Ex. 23. 20. Ban. 10. 13, 21, and 12. 
1. Rev. 12. 7, and 19. 11,14. 



his presence and favor : ' Thou meet- 
est him that rejoiceth and worketh 
righteousness, those that remember 

thee in thy ways.' '^ And Jo skua 

tvent tinto him. Displaying herein a 
remarkable courage and intrepidiiy. 
Instead of turning away from the for- 
midable personage before him, and 
seeking hastily to regain the camp, 
he walks boldly up, and demands of 
him whether he be a friend or a foe. 
This undaunted bearing was the fruit 
of his strong confidence in God. No 
face of clay will intimidate him who 
looks upon God as his friend and 
protector, and who is found in the 
way of duty. It is the disobedient, 
the obstinate, the rebellious spirit, in 
which cowardice dwells. The good 
man is ever the true hero. 

14. And he said, Nay, but as cap- 
tain of the host of the Lord am I rww 
come, ' I am neither Israelite nor 
Canaanite, neither friend nor foe in 
your sense of the words, for I am not 
a mortal man, but as prince and 
leader of the Lord's host, of the an- 
gels in heaven, and even of that very 
power of which you are commander, 
have I now come, to instruct and aid 
thee in the great undertaking in 
which thou art engaged.' There 
seems to be a peculiar emphasis in 
the word noio (nri3> attah), as if he 
had said, ' I who formerly appeared 
as the Jehovah of the burning bush 
(Ex. 3.), and who was announced as 



'fell on his face to the earth, 
and did worship, and said unto 
him, What saith my lord unto 
his servant ? 

15 And the captain of the 
Lord's host said unto Joshua, 

s Gen. ir. 3* 



the tutelary Angel of the travelling 
hosts (Ex 23. 23) noiv appear in the 
different character of the Divine De- 
fender of the covenant nation; aiid 
as my presence formerly made Sinai 
holy (Ex. 19. 20), so now do:h it sanc- 
tify the spot upon which my footsteps 
tread.' He probably at the same nio- 
ment put forth some visible demon- 
stration of his true character, which 
at once satisfied Joshua, and filled 
him with an overwhelming sense of 
his majesty and glory, so that he in- 
stinctively fell on his face to the 
earth, and offered him those tokens 
of worship Vv'hich a mortal is bound 
to pay to his Creator. How much 
reason he had for this is evident from 
ch. 6. 2, where the august stranger 
expressly denominates himself J^A^- 

vah. ^ What saith my Lord mito 

his servant ? With the profoundest 
reverence I acknowledge thee as my 
Lord and leader, I subject myself to 
thy sovereign will, and humbly wait 
for the orders it may seem good to 
thee to issue. 

15. Loose thy shoe from off thy foot. 
This was a token of respect and rev- 
erence usual in the east, and equiva- 
lent to uncovering the head with us. 
(See Illustrations of the Scriptures, 
p. 129.) These are the same wcr'^/^- 
which the angel of the burning ba>l) 
spake to Moses, Ex. 3. 5 from which, 
and other circumstances, it is proba 
ble that it was the same person who 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VL 



03 



•Loose thy shoe from off thy 
foot, for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy : and Joshua 
did so. 



s Ex. 3. 5. Acts 7. Sa 



appeared in both places. That great 
and glorious Being, who knows fully 
his own infinite perfections, w^hich 
we are very inadequate to compre- 
hend, knows what external manifes- 
tations of respect they justly claim 
of his creatures. ' Outward expres- 
sions of inward reverence, and a re- 
ligious awe of God, well become us, 
and are required of us, w^henever we 
approach to him in solemn ordinan- 
ces.' Henry. fl The place when eon 

thou sta7idest is holy. Heb. ID^ip ko- 
desh, is holiness. It was for the time 
made holy, or consecrated by the Di- 
vine presence. As soon as that was 
withdrawn, its peculiar sacredness 
also forsook it, and it was no more 
holy than any other place. Yet with 
the pious heart there will naturally 
be, from the laws of association, a 
feeling of reverence for any place 
where God has been pleased to vouch- 
safe the special manifestation of 
himself. Such a sentiment, howev- 
er, should be guarded from degene- 
rating into superstition. 



CHAPTER VI. 

We fully assent to the remark of 
Dr. Adam Clarke, that there is 
scarcely a more unfortunate division 
of chapters in the whole Bible than 
here. According to the present ar- 
rangement, the reader is greatly at a 
loss to know what is intended by this 
extraordinary appearance of the Son 
of God, as it would seem that the 
whole account of his visit is closed 
with the foregoing chapter, w^hereas 



CHAPTER VL 

IVrOW Jericho was straitly 
-L^ shut up, because of the 
children of Israel : none went 
out, and none came in. 

in fact it is continued in the present. 
The first verse of ch. 6, is a mere 
parenthesis, relating the state of Jeri- 
cho at the time Joshua was favored 
by this encouraging vision. The 
thread of the narrative respecting 
this Divine personage, commenced 
in the preceding chapter, is then re- 
sumed; and continued to v. 5. 

1. Noiv Jericho was stroAtly shut 
up. Strictly, closely shut up. Heb. 
n"i3D?2l nino sogereth u-mesiigereth, 
did shut up and teas shut up, or clos- 
ing and. luas closed. The original 
expression is peculiar and emphatic, 
and was doubtless designed to imply 
the extreme care and vigilance with 
which the gates had been closed and 
were w^atched, not only by night, as 
when the spies came, ch. 2. 5, but 
also by day. Accordingly the Chal. 
renders it, ' And Jericho was shut up 
with iron doors and fortified witli 
brazen bolts, so that none came out 
either to combat or to make offers of 
peace.' The language also intimates, 
that the city was not only effectually 
shut up and made secure from with- 
in, but w^as also so closely blockaded 
by the Israelites from without, that 
there was no going out or coming in 

even to its own citizens. M Because 

of the children of Israel. ' Methinks 
I see how they called their council 
of w^ar, debated of all means of de- 
fence gathered their forces, trained 
their soldiers, set strong guards to 
the gates and w^alls ; and now w^ouid 
persuade one another that unless Is- 
rael could fly into their city, the siege 



64 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



2 And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, See, °- 1 have given into 
thine hand Jericho, and the 
^king thereof, and the mighty 
men of valor. 

was vain. (So) vain worldlings 
think their ramparts and barricadoes 
can keep out the vengeance of God ; 
their blindness suffers them to look 
no further than the means ; the su- 
preme hand of the Almighty comes 
not within the compass of their fears. 
Every carnal heart is a Jericho shut 
up ; God sits down before it, and dis- 
plays mercy and judgment in sight 
of the walls thereof: it hardens itself 
in a wilful security, and saith, " Aha, 
I shall never be moved." ' Bp. Hall. 
2. A7id the Lord said unto Joshua. 
That is, after Josjiua had loosed his 
shoes from off his feet, as command- 
ed above, ch. 5. 15. He who was 
before called the ' Captain of the 
Lord's host,' is here called ' Lord,' or 
* Jehovah,' thus clearly proving that 
it was a Divine personage; for who 
else could promise and perform what 

follows ? ^ / have given into thy 

hand Jericho. Not only 1 vnU do it, 
but I have done it ; it is all thine OAvn, 
as surely as if it were even now in 

thy possession. IT And the mighty 

men of valor. The copulative ' and ' 
does not occur here in the Hebrew, 
The proper rendering is, ' I have 
given into thy hand Jericho and the 
king thereof, (who are, or, although 
they are) mighty men of valor,' i. e. 
experienced and powerful warriors, 
men with whom, if you were to con- 
tend on ordinary terms, you woukl 
be unable to cope, but whom, throusrh 
my assistance, you shall uiterly over- 
throw. A city, in Scripture style, is 
often taken, not for a collection of 



3 And ye shall compass the 
city, all ye men of war, and go 
round about the city once : thus 
shalt thou do six days. 

a ch. 2. 9, 24, and 8. ]. b Deut.7. 24. 



houses and walls, but for the inhabit' 
antSf an assemblage of people dwelling 
together in a corporate capacity. The 
same distinction holds between the 
Latin urbs and civitas. By Jericho 
and its king, is here meant the inha- 
bitants and their king, and they are 
spoken of collectively as ' mighty 
men of valor.' 

3. And yc shall compass — thits shall 
thou do six days. The address is 
made in the latter clause to Joshua, 
in the singular number, as the com- 
mander and representative of the 
people. In the former clause the 
plural is.used. Such changes of per- 
son are frequent, and always worthy 
of attention, as showing the construc- 
tive unity of people and their leaders. 
— It seemed good to Infinite Wisdom 
to appoint this method of besieging 
the city, (1) To magnify his power, 
to show in a convincing manner, 
both to the Canaanites and to Israel, 
that Omnipotence alone had achieved 
the work, that he was infinitely 
above the need of the ordinary means 
of obtaining a victory, and to render 
those of his enemies entirely inex- 
cusable who should presume to with- 
stand his resistless arm. (2) To try 
the faith and obedience of Joshua 
and his people, by prescribing a 
course of conduct that seemed to 
human wisdom the height of folly 
and absurdity, and also to secure a 
profound respec to rll his siib-eqiKnt 
institutions, however simple or con- 
temptible they might seem to the eye 
of carnal reason. (3) To put honor 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VI. 



65 



4 And seven priests shall bear 
before the ark seven "trumpets 
01 rams' horns : and the seventh 
day ye shall compass the city 
seven times, and ^the priests 
shall blow with the trumpets. 

c See Judg. 7. 16, 22. ci Nam, 10. 8. 

upon the ark as the appointed token 
of his presence, and to confirm still 
more fully that veneration and awe, 
with which they had always been 
taught to regard it. 

4. Seven trumpets of rams' horns. 
Heb. D^]d31'^ rnnSrZ! sJwperoth yo- 
belim, trumpets of the jubilee^ i.e. such 
trumpets as used to be blown in the 
year of jubilee, implying, perhaps, 
that the entrance of Israel into Ca- 
naan was a kind of jubilee to them, 
an occasion that called rather for 
the sotmd of the trumpet of joy, than 
the dreadful notes of the trumpet of 
war. No other scriptural instance 
is adduced, in which the word ioi"' 
yobel is translated ram, though it be 
true that the Chaldee paraphrase 
favors that rendering. But its single 
authority on the point is not conclu- 
sive. The like phrase in v. 5, is, in 
the original izi'^ ^^ip Iccren yobel ^ 
horn of jubilee, and proves only that 
horns were used, without restricting 
the meaning to rams'' horns. Still 
the sense of rams^ horns, as a tra- 
ditionary sense, seems for ages to 
have connected itself with the phrase, 
grounded, we presumo, on the fact, 
that the trumpets in question were 
made in the shape of the horns of this 
animal, and the appellation ' horn of 
jubilee ' may be used figuratively for 
trumpet of jubilee, just as with us a 
well known musical instrument of 
brass is called ' a horn,' from its 
form, and another called ' a serpent,' 
6^* 



5 And it shall come to pass, 
that when they make a lono- 
blast w4th the ram's horn, and 
when ye hear the sound of the 
trumpet, all the people shall 
shout with a great shout : and 
the wall of the city shall fall 

for the same reason. IT The sev- 
enth day ye shall compass the city 
seven times. The time was thus 
lengthened out, both to afford a con- 
tinued exercise of the faith and pa- 
tience of the people, and that the be- 
sieged and besiegers might be the 
more deeply impressed with that 
supernatural power by which the 
result was to be accomplished. Men 
are usually prone to precipitate 
measures. God moves deliberately, 
and he would have his people wait 
his time. ' He that believeth shall 
not make haste.' ' It is the pleasure 
of God to hold us both in work and 
in expectation, and though he require 
our continual endeavors for the sub- 
duing of our corruptions, during the 
six days of our life, yet we shall 
never find it perfectly effected till the 
very evening of our last day.' Bp. 
Hall. The repeated mention of the 
number sexeu in this connexion, is 
worthy of notice. It has been sug- 
gested that it might have a latent 
reference to the creation of the world 
in six days, and God's resting on the 
seventh, which completed the first 
week, and in the present case, that 
it may convey an allusion to the 
preaching of the gospel for a limited 
period of time, at the close of which, 
perhaps early in the seventh thousand 
ye^.r^, all Satan's remaining bulwarks 
sliall fall to the ground, and the king- 
doms of this world become the king- 
doms of the Lord and of his Christ. 



66 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



down fiat, and the people shall 
ascend up every man straight 
before him. 

6 IT And Joshua the son of 
Nun called the priests, and said 
unto them. Take up the ark of 
the covenant, and let seven 
priests bear seven trumpets of 
rams' horns before the ark of 
the Lord. 

7 And he said unto the people, 
Pass on, and compass the city, 

5. The wall of the city shall fall 
down flat. Not absolutely all the 
wall in the whole extent of its com- 
pass, since that would have involved 
the house of Rahab in the destruc- 
tion, which, it is plain, was not in- 
tended, nor did it happen, v. 22. As 
the city was completely surrounded 
by the Israelites, the falling of the 
wall vv^ould give the inhabitants no 
opportunity of escape. They could 
not break through the array of armed 
men that hemmed them in. The 
original for ' fall down flat ' is ' fall 
down under itself,' or ' in its place,' 
which appears to mean simply, that 
the wall should fall down to its very 

foundations. IT Ascend up every 

man straight before him. The ob- 
struction of the wall being removed, 
nothing stood in the w^ay of the peo- 
ple's advancing in a direct line, as if 
from the circumference to the centre 
of a circle, and meeting in the heart 
of the city. This is called ' going 
up/ or • ascending,' from the necessity 
there was of climbing over the ruins 
of the walls on their way. Besides 
which it is common, in nearly all 
languages, t > d scribe the approach 
to a city as a ' g ing u ■ ' to it. After 
giving these directions, the Angel- 
Jehovah no doubt departed. 



and lei him that is armed pass 
on before the ark of the Lord. 

8 TI And it came to pass, when 
Joshua had spoken unto the 
people, that the seven priests 
bearing the seven trumpets of 
rams' horns passed on before 
the Lord, and blew with the 
trumpets : and the ark of the 
covenant of the Lord followed 
them . 

9 IF And the armed men went 

6. And Joshua the son of Nun 
called the priests, &c. Although the 
charge which he now received re- 
lative to the manner of besieging the 
city w^as highly calculated to put his 
faith to the test^ yet he falters not in 
the least, but com.plies as readily as 
if human reason had nothing to ob- 
ject to so strange a procedure. We 
cannot but be admonished, by his 
example, of the necessity of always 
subordinating our shallow wisdom 
to the plain mandates of Omnipotence. 

7. And he said unto the people. 
Heb. Tl)^^'^! va-yomeru. and they 
said ; i. e. the officers acting under 
the general orders of Joshua. But 
the Masorites have indicated a doubt- 
ful readmg, and the dial., the Lat. 
Vulg., and most of the versions, have 
rendered it in the singular — ' he said.' 
We see no reason, however, to ques- 
tion the correctness of the Hebrew 
text. 

8. Passed onbef ore the Lord. That 
is, as we suppose, before the ark of 

the Lord, v. 4, and ch. 3. 11. H The 

ark of the covenant. The ark in 
W'hich were deposited the tv. g tables 
whereon the covcnc;n' w s vriuon. 

9. And the arined men. Heb. 
f linn hahalUtz, the armed man, i. e. 
each armed man, collect, sing, for 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VI. 



67 



before the priests that blew 
with the trumpets, 'and the 
rere-ward caine after the ark, 
the priests going on, and blow- 
ing with the trumpets. 

10 And Joshua had command- 
ed the people, saying. Ye shall 
not shout, nor make any noise 

e Num. 10. 25. 

plur. IT The rere-ward. The hind- 
er part. The original t]Di<?3 mmssepk, 
comes from C^C^ asaph^ to collect ^ to 
gather up, and is equivalent to our 
military phrase bringing up the rear, 
and not improperly rendered in the 
margin, ' gathering host.' Jt implies 
a kind and protecting care towards 
those who are its objects. The same 
phraseology occurs, Is. 52. 12, ' The 
Lord will go before you, and the 
God of Israel will be your rere-ward.'' 
(Heb. D-irDi<?2 meassiphkim, your 
gatherer.) Ps. 27. 10. 'When my 
father and my mother forsake me, 
then the Lord will take nu up.'' (Heb. 
^jtDi^"> yaaspheriif will gather me.) 
Judg. 19. 18, ' I am now going to the 
house of the Lord, and there is no 
man that receiveth (t)D&<)2 measseph) 
me to house.' A rere-ward, there- 
fore, is that portion of an army which, 
moving behind the main body, o-^^Aers 
up all the stragglers, takes care of 
any thai may faint and fall by the 
way, sees that neither cattle nor bag- 
gage are missing, and protects or 
covers the rear of the host from the 
assault of enemies. The Jews think 
the division of Dan is meant, which 
always brought up the rear. Num. 10. 
10. Nor make any noise with your 
voice. They were not only required 
to abstain from shouting, but to ob- 
serve a profound silence in every 
respect. This would be expressive 



with your voice, neither shall 
any word proceed out of your 
mouth, until the day 1 bid you 
shout, then shall ye shout. 

11 8o the ark of the Lord 
compassed the city, going about 
it once : and they came into the 
camp, and lodged in the camp. 

12 ![ And Joshua rose early 

of a reverent awe in anticipation of 
the event ; and would preclude all 
danger of mistake as to the precise 
time when they were required to 
shout. If noise of any kind had been, 
allow^ed, they might have taken it for 
the signal of a general acclamation. 
This would not only have been in- 
effectual before the appointed time, 
but would have rendered them the 
derision of their enemies. 

11. So the ark of the Lord com- 
passed the city. Or, ' so he caused 
the ark of the Lord to compass the 
city.' The original will admit of 
this rendering, and, indeed, rather 
requires it, as the Hephil form of the 
rerb (IQD"^ yasseb) is n^o where used 
in an intransitive sense, excepting 
Ps. 140. 9. The procession un- 
doubtedly moved at a sufficient dis- 
tance to be out of the reach of the 
enemy's arrows, and out of the hear- 
ing of their scoffs. They must have 
looked with a very contemptuous 
eye upon such an unwarlike mode 
of assault, and when day after day 
passed, and no effect followed, would 
naturally become hardened in secu- 
rity, and think the whole the mere 
mockery of a s-iege, a senseless and 
childish parade. Thus they would 
cry 'perce end safety,' while sudden 
destruction was coming upon them. 
' There was never so strange a siege 
as this of Jericho : here was jio 



OS 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



in the mornmg, ^iiul the priests 
took up I he ark of the Lord. 

13 And seven priests bearing 
seven trumpets of rams' horns 
before the ark of the Lokd m em 
on eontinually, ami blew with 
the tiumpeis : and the armed 
men went before them ; but the 
rere-ward eame aller the ark of 
tlie Lord, the priests going on, 
and blowing with the trumpets. 

14 And the seeond day they 
compassed the city once, and 

t ivm. 31. -^ 

mound raised, no sword drawn, no 
engine planted, no pioncei-s under- 
mining; here were trumpets sound- ! 
ed, but no enemy seen; here were* 
armed men, but no siivke sriven ; 
they must walk, and not tisrht ; seven 
seA-eral days mu>t they paee about 
the walls, which they may not once 
look over to see what Avas within. 
Poubdess these inhabitants of Jeri- 
cho made themselves merry with 
this sight. When they had stood 
six days on their walls, and beheld 
uothinsT but a walking enemy, 
"What," say they, " could Israel lind 
no walk to breathe them with, but 
a Knit our walls? Have they not 
ti*a veiled enough in their forty years' 
pilirrimage. but they must siiftch 
their limbs in this circle 7 We see 
they ai^ gooii fix>tmen, but when 
shall we try their hands ] Do these 
rain men think Jericho will be won 
by looking at ] Or do they only 
come to count how many paces it is 
aKmt our city ? If this be their man- 
ner of siegre, we shall hnA-e no great 
cause to ft ar the sword of Israel." 
Wicked men think God in jest when 
he is preparing for their iad^rment.' 



returned into the camp. So 
they did six days. 

15 And it canu^ to pass on the 
seventh day, that ibey rose early 
about the dawning of the day, 
and compassed the city al\er the 
same manner seven times : only 
on that day they compassed the 
city seven times. 

lt> And it came to pass at the 
seventh time, when the priests 
blew with the trumpets, J osluia 
said unto the people, Shout ; tor 
the Lord hath iriven vou the citv. 

15. The seventh daif — they rose 
early. Because on this day they had 
to encompass the city seven times; a 
proof that the city could not have 
been very large, and also that the 
irhole Israelitish host could not have 
been employed in going rvnmd it ; for 
as the lighting men alone amounted 
to t>CK),lXX>, indej>endently i.f the mass 
of the people, who made a toid of at 
least two millions more, the thing is 
utterly inconceivable. A select num- 
ber, suthcient for the occasion, was 
doubiless all that were employed. It 
is evident that in the course of these 
seven days there must have been a 
S4ibikith. This the Jewish writers 
say was the last, the day on which 
the city was taken ; but this is not 
certain. It is not material however, 
whicii day it was. That Goil, who 
commanded the sabbath to Iv set 
apart for rest and religious purjx^ses, 
has a right to suspend or alter the 
usual modes of its observance when 
he sees fix, and his command is suffi- 
cient to make anv rt-\^r^ Vn\ Tn • at 
any time. 

16. Shout ; /'jr :\t' L^::\i i.:. ; i-ntn 
p(^u the city. As before it dc^s not 
appear that the people were informed 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VI. 



69 



17 I^And the city shall be °ac- | 18 And ye, 'in any wise k(?op 
cursed, er^vi it, and all that are yoiirselces from the accursed 
therein, to ihe Lord : only Ra- ] thing, lest ye make ijourselves 
hab the hiu'lot shall live, she and accursed, when ye take of the 
all that are with htn* in the house. 



because '' she hid the messengers 
that we sent. 

? Lev. v?7. 2S. >Iic. 4. 13. h oh. 'J. 4. 

how they were to cross the Jordan 
till they came to the river's brink, so 
on this occasion Joshua seems to 
have forborne telling them how they 
were to become masters of the city, 
till ihey had compassed it six times. 
Their implicit obedience in this, as 
ill I lie former instance, strikinsrly 
evinced their faith, which is com- 
mended by the aposile, Heb. 11. 30. 
' By faith the walls of Jericho fell 
do\Yn afer they were compassed 
about seren days.' 

17. And the city shnll he accursed, 
Heb. Snn nr^^*^ hdyitkah 'he ran, shall 
be a curse, an auafhouij ; i. e. devoted 
to utter destruciion; no spoils were 
to be taken, no lives to be spared, 
except those of Rahab and her tami- 
ly. All was to be, if we may so say, 
consecrafed to a curse. For an ac- 
eoimt of ihe'^herem or anathona, see 
on Lev. 37. 21, '28, 09. It is plain 
Irom 1 Kings, 10. 34. that Joshua 
spake this by Divine direction; and 
though to human view it may carry 
the aspect of undue severity, yet con- 
sidered as the enactment of Him 
whose judgments are righteous alto- 
gether, we cannot question its perfect 
equity. Jericho belonged to a nation 
which had filled up the measure of 
its iniquities, and irs guilt was pecu- 
liarly enhanced by reason of the 
amazing display of divine power 
which it had recentlv witnessed and 



accursed thing, and make the 
camp of Israel a curse, ^ and trou- 
ble it. 

i Dent. 7. 26, and 13. 17. ch. 7. 1, 11, 12. 
j ch. 7. 25. 1 Kiiiiis 18. 17, IS. Jonah 1. 12. 

against which it had hardened itself 
It was just, therelbre, that the veii- 
Jicance taken should be in proportion 
to the light resisted. The severe 
judgment upon Jericho, moreover, 
would tend to strike terror into the 
hearts of the rest of the devoled na- 
tions, and make them an easier con- 
quest. HO/?/// Rahab shall lire, Os:c. 

The Most Pligh never forgets his 
people. When he maketh inquisition 
for blood, heremembereth them, who- 
ever else may be overlooked. IT 

Because she hid. The original has 
an extraordinary and emphatic form, 
implying that she earefullu and dilu 
genthj hid them. 

18. In «•???/ irisc keep //^ ;/.••,<.; v res. 
That is, by all means, most carefully, 
studiously^ vigilantly. This city was 
as it were, the first fruits of Canaan, 
and as such wholly devoted to the 
Lord. The spoil of other cities, sub- 
sequently taken, was allowed to be 
divided anu^iig the captors, but this 
was to be an exception to the general 
rule. IT -4 /if/ make the camp of Is- 
rael a curse. Heb. ' put, or place the 
camp a curse.' The Heb. word for 
•' put ' has otk^n the signification of 
' make, constitute, render.' The 
meaning is, that they would thereby 
render themselves obnoxious to the 

curse denounced upon the city. 

^A?id trouble it. Bring distress upon 
it by provoking the Divine displeas- 



70 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



19 But all the silver, and gold, 
and vessels of brass and iron, are 
consecrated unto the Lord : 
they shall come into the treas- 
ury of the Lord. 

20 So the people shouted when 
the priests blew with the trum- 
pets : and it came to pass, when 

ure, and interrupting the prosperous 
course of your victories. Heb. tri^S^!' 
achariem^ from 'l^^? achar^ to trouble. 
See note on Gen. 34. 30, 31. This is 
spoken as if in foresight of the sin of 
Achan, to whom Joshua afterwards 
said^ ch. 7. 25, ' Why hast thou trou- 
bled us '] The Lord shall trouble 
thee this day.' From hence he is 
called Achar^ or trouble. 1 Chron. 
2.7. 

19. All the silver and gold. Except 
those portions of these metals which 
were formed into idols or their appen- 
dages, in respect to w^hich the law 
was express, Deut. 7. 25, ^ The gra- 
ven images of their gods shall ye 
burn with fire : thou shalt not desire 
the silver or gold that is on them, nor 
take it unto thee, lest thou be snared 
therein ; for it is an abomination to 
the Lord thy God.' Comp. 1 Chron. 

14. 12. IT Consecrated unto the 

Lord. Heb. nin'^i) ITJIp kodtsK la- 
hovah^ holiness to the Lord., i. e. dedi- 
cated exclusively to him; being first 
legally purified by passing through 



the fire 
Num. 32. 



according 



to the ordinance, 

21—23. IT Shall come 

into the treasury of the Lord. To be 
employed wholly for the service of 
the sanctuary, and not to be appro- 
priated in any manner to the use of 
any private person or priest. The 
place of deposit was the tabernacle 
of the congregation, where the spoils 



' the people heard the sound of the 
trumpet, and the people shout- 
ed with a great shout, that Hhe 
wall fell down flat, so that the 
people went up into the city, 
every man straight before him, 
and they took the city. 

kver. 5. Heb. 11. 30 



of the Midianites were laid up. Num. 
31. 54. 

20. So the people shouted, &:c. More 
literally rendered from the Heb., ' So 
the people shouted and blew with the 
trumpets (i. e. the priests blew in the 
name of the people.) and it came to 
pass when the people heard the sound 
of the trumpets, that the people shout- 
ed with a great shout, and the wall 
fell down flat, and the people went 
up,' &c. The latter clause is merely 
a more detailed and exact account 
of what is contained in the first. 
Probably great numbers were killed 
by the falling of the wall. We are 
not warranted, perhaps, to speak of 
this event as typical. Nevertheless 
it was doubtless intended to convey 
most important instruction to all suc- 
ceeding ages. It was peculiarly cal- 
culated to show how easily God can 
make a way for the accomplishment 
of his own purposes, and for the sal- 
vation of his people. If it did not 
typify, it certainly well illustrates, 
the victories which the gospel was 
to obtain over all the principalities 
and powders of earth and hell. No 
human force was to be used. Nothing 
but the simple announcement of the 
truth, and that by the instrumentality 
of weak and sinful men — men un- 
learned, unskilled in logic, and un- 
furnished with eloquence — was the 
means chosen for the destruction of 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VI. 



71 



21 And they ^ utterly destroyed 
all that teas in the city, both 
man and woman, young and old, 
and ox, and sheep, and ass, 
with the edge of the sword. 

22 But Joshua had said unto 

1 Dent. 7. 2. 



idolatry, and the establishment of the 
Redeemer's kingdom over the earth. 
YeL how mightily has the bare sound 
of the gospel trumpet prevailed for 
the overthrow of Satan's empire in 
the world !' 

21. And iheij utterly destroyed. 
Heb. 1)j">'*in*i ya'harimu, viade a 
curse, devoted to destruction. 



^ Both man and looman^ young and 
old, &c. In all this the Israelites 
ac.ed strictly according to their 
orders, Deut. 20. 16, 17, so that what- 
ever charge of cruelty or barbarity 
may be brought against them in view 
of their ccmdnct on this occasion, it 
strikes directly at^he rectitude of the 
Divi-ne judgments. That the Ca- 
Maanites were a nation of'incorrigible 
idolaters, whose morals, from the 
most remote periods, were polluted 
to the utmost degree, we have the 
highest authori.y for asserting. Had 
Jehovah, after bearing with such a 
people for no less than four centuries, 
sent upon them at last a famine or a 
pestilence, and cut them oiTfrom the 
face of the earth, who could deny 
that he had acted with perfect justice 1 
Had he again caused fire to fall upon 
them from heaven, or overwhelnfed 
them by the waters of a flood, the 
same admission must have been 
made. Why then should it be urged 
that he acted in opposition to any one 
of his known attributes, because he 
let loose anolh i of his judgments 
upon them^ nam-ely war '? For such, 



the two men that had spied out 
the country. Go into the harlot's 
house, and bring out thence the 
woman and all that she hath, 
"" as ye sware unto her. 
23 And the young men that 

rn ch 2. 14. Heb. 11. 31. 

as far as they were affected, was 
really the case. The Israelites were 
towards them neither more nor less 
than instruments of punishment in 
ihe hands of the great Ruler of the 
universe, who chose to slay them by 
the edge of the sword, rather than 
by earthquakes, famine, or plague. 
Towards the Canaanites themselves, 
we must admit that there was great 
severity in the order for their exter- 
mination. But there was goodness 
in it, yea great goodness, towards the 
world at large ; for it has shown the 
danger of unbelief and impeni ence 
in such awful colors, that the proud- 
est and most obdurate must tremble. 
If it be urged that to subject women 
and unoffending children to the hor- 
rors of war, is inconsistent with our 
ideas of Divine justice, we reply, 
that the very same observation might 
be made in the case of a plague or a 
deluge. In all public calamities in- 
fants are involved, and tens of thou- 
sands die in great agony every year. 
If God is the agent in these calami- 
ties, they must consist with the most 
perfect justice and goodness, and on 
the same ground is the present order, 
fearful as it was, to be vindicated. 

22. Go into the harloVs house. 
Which had been miraculously pre- 
served in the general overthrow. 

23. The young men. These per- 
sons have all along hitherto been 
called simply ' men,' and no inti- 
mation given of their having been 



72 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451. 



were spies went in, and brought 
out Rahab, "and her father, and 
her mother, and her brethren, 
and all that she had ; and they 
brought out all her kindred, and 
left them without the camp of 
Israel. 

24 And they burnt the city 
with fire, and all that i^as there- 
in : • only the silver, and the 
gold, and the vessels of brass 

n ch. 2. 13. o ver. 19. 

you7ig. For an explanation of the 
Scriptural import of the phrase 
* young men,' see Note on Gen. 14. 

24. IT All her kindred. Heb. 

n"*riin5tD?3 miskpe^hotheyah^ all her 

families. TT And left them without 

the camp — and made them to stay or 
abide, till they were cleansed from 
the impurities of their Gentile super- 
stition, and prepared, by suitable in- 
struction, for admission as proselytes 
into the Israelitish church. 

25. Saved alive. Heb. fT^nn hehe- 
yah, vivified, made to live. The 
usage of the original is peculiar. It 
seems to imply that Rahab and her 
kindred were as good as dead, that 
they had virtually perished in the 
general destruction, but by being pre- 
served through it, had had, as it were, 
their lives restored to them. See the 
JNote on Pharaoh's being preserved, 

Ex. 9. 14-16. TT Dwelleth in Israel 

even unto this day. Heb. ^'Ip^ 
i^j^^t-)'^ hekereh Yisrael, in the midst of 
Israel, i. e. as a communicant and par- 
t::ker of all the distinguishing priv- 
ilegrs of the chosen seed. It is, how- 
ever, contended by Masius and others, 
that this pi rase implies that Rahab 
lived in her posterity in the midst of 
Israel, and that this clause was added 
by Ezra or some late reviser of the 



and of iron, they put into the 
treasury of the house of the 
Lord. 

25 And Joshua saved Rahab 
the harlot alive, and her father's 
household, and all that she had ; 
and Pshe dwelleth in Israel even 
unto this day ; because she hid 
the messengers which Joshua 
sent to spy out Jericho. 

p See Matt. 1. 5. 



history. Rahab married Salmon, 
the son of Nahshon, a prince of the 
tribe of Judah, and thus became one 
of the ancestors of David and of 

Christ. Mat. 1. 5. If Unto this 

day. A strong proof that the book 
was written hi or near the time to 
which it refers, and in all probability 

by Joshua himself. *fr Because she 

hid the messengers. This is repealed, 
as if the spirit of inspiration delight- 
ed to dwell on the act which re- 
dounded so signally to her credit and 
to her salvation. God takes pleasure 
in reciting the good deeds of his 
people. — From the various particu- 
lars recorded in the sacred narrative 
respecting Rahab, we may learn, 
(1) That there is no person so vile 
but that he may become an eminent 
saint. Would that all abandoned 
women in the world might hear of 
the mercy shown towards this harlot 
of Jericho ! Despised and outcast as 
they are by their fellow-creature?, 
would that they knew what compas- 
sion for them exists in the bosom of 
God ! They usually persist in their 
wickedness, through an utter despair 
of obtaining the mercy and grace 
which they need. But here they 
might see that there was hope for the 
vilest of the vile. (2) Faith, if gen- 



( 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VL 



rs 



26 % AndJoshua adjured /A€??i 
at that time, saying, '^Cursed be 
the man before the Lord, that 
riseth up and buildeth this city 



q I Kings 16. M. 



uine, will uniformly produce good 
works. (3) Whatever we do for 
God or for liis people, because they 
are his people, shall most assuredly 
be richly rewarded, 

28. Joshua adjured tkevi. Made 
them to swear, caused them to bind 
themselvres by a solemn oath, con- 
firmed by an imprecation upon them- 
selves and their posterity, if they 
broke it, that they would never re- 
build the city. This he did, not on his 
ovvTi. responsibility, but by a Divine 
impulse, 1 Kings 16, 34, From the 
remarkable manner in whiah Jericho 
was taken and destroyed, it appears 
to have been the design of God to 
preserve such a memorial of the 
event, as would teach to the latest 
posterity, his detestation of idolatry 
and the vices that grow out of it. 
Accordingly Joshua here adjures 
the people by a solemn oath, and 
binds it upon them and their poster- 
ity, to leave the ruins of the city as 
a perpetual warning to after ages 
against the commission of those 
crimes. It would thus serve also as 
a precaution to Israel to abstain from 
worshiping the idol deities of the sur- 
rounding nations. IT Cursed be the 

man before the Lord. That is, from 
God's presence and by his sentence. 
Thus Joshua is said, ch. 18. 8, to have 
' cast lots before the Lord,' i. e. as 
under his sanction and expecting the 
decision from him. This was what 
gave its terror to the penalty. As to 
what is implied in the curse of God, 
see on Gen. 3. 14. IT That riseth 



Jericho : he shall lay the foun- 
dation thereof in his first-born, 
and in his youngest son shall he 
set up the gates of it. 



%p and buildet?c. That is, that at- 
tempts to build, that enters upon the 
work of building, that engages in it, 
I This is often the sense of ' rise ' in the 
I sacred writers. The denunciation is 
j here limited to the builder, and ex- 
; tends not to those who should inhabit 
tlie city after it was built, for that it 
j was subsequently rebuilt and inhabit- 
ed is evident. See below. — — ^ Shall 
! lay the foundation tli^reof in his fir st- 
I born^ &c. That is, shall lose all his 
children in the interval between la)'- 
ing the foundation and completing 
the walls ; he shall, as it were, lay 
the iirst stone on the dead body of his 
eldest son, and the last on that of his 
youngest. This is said to have 
been fulfilled in Hiel, the Bethelite, 
1 Kings 16. 34, who rebuilt Jericho 
in the reign of Ahaz, and ' laid the 
foundation thereof in Abiram, his 
first-born, and set up the gates thereof 
in his youngest son Segub.' This 
was 550 years after the utterance of 
the curse. The city does not appear, 
however, to have lain in ruins during 
the whole period from Joshua to 
Hiel, at least if the 'city of palm 
trees,' mentioned Deut 34. 3, be, as 
is generally supposed, the same with 
Jericho, for we find this an inhabited 
place in the beginning' of Judges, 
ch. 1. 16, a short time after the death 
of Joshua, and the same city appears 
to have been taken from the Israel- 
ites by Eglon, king of Moab, Judg. 
3. 13. Moreover, the ambassadors 
of David, who were maltreated by 
Hanan, king of the Ammonites, 



74 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



27 ""So the Lord was with 
Joshua; and 'his fame was nois- 
ed throughout all the country. 



B 



CHAPTER Vn. 

UT the children of Israel 
committed a trespass in the 

r ch. 1. 5. s ch. 9. 1, 3. 



were commanded to tarry at Jericho 
till their beards were grown, 2 Sam. 
10. 4 5. It appears, therefore, that 
there was a city which went under 
this name long before the time of 
Hiel, unless it be supposed that the 
' city of palm trees ' was a different 
place from the ancient Jericho, 
though standing in its neighborhoodj 
and sometimes called by its name, 
which we think not improbable, espe- 
cially as Josephus speaks of the site 
of the old city of Jericho, as if to dis- 
tinguish it from a more modern one. 
27. 7'ke Lord was vntlt Joshua, &c. 
That is, by his powerful aid, giving 
him miraculous assistance magnify- 
ing him and raising his reputation, 
making him acceptable to Israel, and 
formidable to the Canaanites. ' No- 
thing can more raise a man's reputa- 
tion, nor make him appear more truly 
great, than to have the evidence of 
God's presence with him.' Henry. 



CHAPTER VII. 

1. Committed a trespass. Heb. 
53^)3 'V^'$)y^ yimmelu 7naal, had pre- 
varicated a prevarication. The sin 
of an individual is imputed to the 
whole people. This is on the ground 
of the constituted oneness of social 
and ecclesiastical bodies. A people, 
properly speaking, is but one moral 
person. See note on ch. 1. 12. In 
like manner, Mat. 26. 8, it is said, 
that ' the disciples had indignation, I 



accursed thing : for '' Achan, the 
son of Carmij the son of Zahdi, 
the son of Zerah, of the tribe of 
Judah, took of the accursed 
thing ; and the anger of the Lord 
was kindled against the children 
of Israel. 

ach.22. 20. 1 Chron. 2. G. 7. 

saying, To what purpose is this 
waste V Whereas from John, 12. 4, 
5, it appears that it was Judas only 
who made this remark. — No man, in 
sinning, can be sure that the conse- 
quences will stop Vv"ith himself For 
aught he knows, they may affect the 
whole extent of his relations; and 
this ought to make us watchful both 
over ourselves and others, that we 
nei:her commit nor countenance 
deeds that may spread desolation over 
the bosom of a Avhole community. 
Ch. 22. 20, 'Did not Achan., the sod 
of Zerah, commit a trespajs on the 
accursed thing, and wrath fell on all 
the congregation of Israel V ' So ve- 
nomous is sin, especially when it 
lights among God's people, that one 
drachm of it is able to infect the whole 

mass of Israel.' Bp. Hall. ^In the 

accursed thing. In respect to the ac- 
cursed, or devoted, thing ; in taking a 
portion of the spoils of the city, the 
whole of which God had commanded 
to be either destroyed or dedicated to 
the sanctuary. Gr. koI ivoacpLaavro 
and T3V dvaBefiuTog, and have set apa7i 
for themselves some of the anathema. 

*^Achan^ the son of Carmi. This 

Achan is elsewhere called Achar^ 
trouble or the troMer, undoubtedly in 
allusion to the effect of his conduct 
on this occasion. See on v. 25 and 
ch. G. 18. In like manner Bethel, 
house of God. Is called Bethaven, 
house of vanity^ Hos. 4. 15, on account 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



75 



2 And Joshua sent men from 
Jericho to Ai, which is beside 
Beth-aven, on the east side of 
Beth-el, and spake unto them, 
saying, Go up and view the 
country. And the men went 
up and view^ed Ai. 

of the idolatry practised there. No- 
thing is more common in t.[ie Scrip- 
tures, ihan for the names of persons 
and pjaces to be changed in conse- 
quence of, and in allusion to, certain 
remarkable events by which they 

may hav^e been distinguished. 

^ So7i of Zabdi. Called also Zimri, 
1 Chron. 2. 6. The line of his parent- 
age is thus reci:ed, among other rea- 
sons, that the discredit of such a foul 
deed might be reflected back upon 
those of his ancestors who, by being 
remiss in their duties as parents, had 
been, in one sense, the procuring 
cause of his sin. This is not an un- 
common occurrence in the sacred 
writings. It seems to have been with 
a similar design, that the genealogy 
of Zimri is given, Num. 25. 14. In 
like manner the praise of the excel- 
lence of a son redounds to the honor 
of the line from which he springs. A 
warning is hereby administered to 
parents, to give the most diligent 
heed in training their offspring in the 
fear of God lest they be a reproach 
to their memories when they them- 
selves are no more. 

2. Sent men from Jericho to Ai. 
Called also Hai, Gen. 12. 8, and Aija, 
Neh. 11. 31, a city near the northern 
limit of the tribe of Benjamin, about 
ten miles north of Jerusalem, and 
nearly two east of Bethel. After its 
destruction by Joshua, it Vv- as again re- 
built by the Benjamites and inhab- 
ited by them till the captivity. Sen- 



3 And they returned to Josh- 
ua, and said unto him. Let not 
all the people go up ; but let 
about two or three thousand 
men go up and smite Ai : and 
make not all the people to labor 
thither ; for they are but few. 

nacherib at length destroyed it, but 
though it Yvas rebuilt after the Baby- 
lonish captivity, there is no vestige 
of it to be found at the present time. 
Even in the fourth century, the ruins 
of this city were scarcely visible. 
The spies sent on this occasion were 
not to go into the city, but merely in- 
to its vicinity, for the purpose of re- 

connoi.ering. If Beside Beth-aven 

This w^as a city of Benjamin, about 
three miles north of Ai, and nearly 
six miles east of Bethel, w^hich gave 
name to the wilderness adjoining, ch. 
18. 12. It was not the place called 
Beth-aven, Hos. 10. 5. See on v. 1. 

*ir Go up and vieiv the country. 

Heb. 1;^*I1 li3>' alu veraggelic, go 
v^p and foot the coimtry. So after- 
wards ' and viewed,' Heb. ll^31^ ye~ 
raggelu^ and footed. 

3. Let not all the people go up^ &c. 
The easy conquest of Jericho had 
probably rendered the people pre- 
sumptuous. They concluded that 
God would of course interpose for 
them just as he had done before. The 
counsel here given was based, as it 
would seem, upon a culpable assur- 
ance of success in the neglect of the 
proper means. To confide in God 
was right ; but to expect his aid w^hile 
they neglected to use their own en- 
deavors, was nothing short of down- 
right presumption. So prone is hu- 
man nature to extremes. The first 
spies that w^ere sent out by Moses 
brought back the most disheartening 



76 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451 



4 So there went up thither of 
the people about three thousand 
men : ^ and they tied before the 
men of Ai. 

5 And the men of Ai smote 

b Lev. 26. 17. Deut. 28. 25. 

report. The Canaanites were invin- 
cible, and they wcaild surely fall be- 
fore them. Those sent to Ai were 
as much on the other extreme. Their 
enemies are contemptible, and they 
can easily carry all before them. 
Even Joshua himself seems to have 
formed his measures without taking 
the usual precaution of consulting 
God as to his duty. The result 
showed that they should at least have 
had some intimation from heaven, 
that a part of the force was to be dis- 
pensed Vvith in this instance. But 
the truth is, they were now under the 
Divine displeasure ; sin unrepented 
had interrupted the communications 
of God's will, and where that is the 
case with a people or an individual, 
all goes wrong. No one can have se- 
curity that he is planning or acting 
right, while the light of the Lord's 
countenance is hidden by sin. The 
pledge of the Divine blessing is want- 
ing, and he is not to be surprised if 
all his counsels are carried headlong. 

IT Make not all the people to labor 

thither. That is, to labor and fatigue 
themselves by going thither, probably 
implying the ascent of a mountain- 
ous region ; an advice by which they 
obviously consulted the ease rather 
than the safety or glory of the people. 
It is perhaps in allusion to this inci- 
dent, that Solomon says, Eccles. 10. 
15, ' The labor of the foolish luearieth 
every one of them, because he know- 

eth not how to go to the city.' ? 

IT For they are but f.w. On which 



of them about thirty and six 
men : for they chased them/ro7/i 
before the gate even unto She- 
barim, and smote them in the 
ffoino; down : wherefore *^ the 

c ch. 2. 9. 11. Lev. 26. 36. Ps. 22. 14. 



Henry well remarks, that ' few as 
they were, they were too many for 
them.' It appears from ch. 8. 25, that 
Joshua slew in one day, twelve thou- 
sand of the citizens of Ai, and yet 
the spies reported the place meanly 
garrisoned, and proposed to send 
against it only a detachment of two 
or three thousand ! 

5. Chased them — even unto Sheba- 
rim. Heb. D'^^DIL^H hash-shebarim^ 
to the breaches^ brealcings, or shiver- 
ings; so called probably from the 
event, because the ranks of the Isra- 
elites were utterly broken and the peo- 
ple, panic-struck, fled in the utmost 

confusion. ^ Smote them in the 

going doivn. That is, in the descent 
or declivity of the hill on which the 
town stood. The effect of this defeat 
would naturally be (1) to serve as an 
evidence of God's displeasure, and a 
solemn call upon them to humble 
themselves under his mighty hand, 
and institute a rigid self-examination 
to discover if possible the cause of so 
sad a reverse. (2) To harden the 
Canaanites and make them more se- 
cure than ever in their sins, prompt- 
ing them to say of Israel, as the ene- 
mies of David said of him, Ps. 71. 
11, ' God hath forsaken him; perse- 
cute and take him, for there is none 
to deliver him.' Thus their ruin, 
when it came, would be the more 
dreadful. The Christian may derive 
some profitable hints from this narra- 
tive as to the conduct of the warfare 
in which he is engaged. Notwith- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



77 



hearts of the people mehed, and 
became as water. 

6 H And Joshua '^rent his 
clothes, and fell to the earth 
upon his face before the ark of 
the Lord until the even-tide, he 

d Gen. 37. 29, 34. 

Standing the Canaan which he seeks 
is the gift of God, yet it must be ob- 
tained by a manly and continued 
conflict with our spiritual enemies. 
He must not despise any as too weak, 
nor fear any as too sirong. As to 
the weak especially, he should re- 
member that there is none so weak 
but he will be able to overcome us if 
we indulge a careless habit,' or con- 
fide in an arm of flesh. fl The 

hearts of the people melted aiid becaone 
as v-ater. That is, were utterly dis- 
couraged. Thus the very effect 
which was threatened to be produced 
on the devoted nations by the ap- 
proach of the Israelites, was now in 
the righteous judgment of God 
wrought in the hearts of his own 
sinning people. See on Ex. 15. 15 ; 
Josh. 2. 9, 11. 

6. Joshiia rent his clothes. A usual 
mode, among the ancients, of ex- 
pressing the highest degree of sor- 
row or grief. See my Illustrations of 
the Scriptures, p. 156. It was not so 
much the defeat itself as the un- 
doubted though unknown guilty 
cause of it that distressed Joshua. It 
showed evidently that, for some rea- 
son or other, the Lord's hand was 
turned against them, as otherwise it 
would not have been possible for the 

enemy to have prevailed. IT Until 

even tide. Thus spending the whole 
day in fasting and prayer. We can- 
not but highly applaud the conduct 
of Joshua on this occasion. The 



' and the elders of Israel, and 
^put dust upon their heads. 

7 And Joshua said, Alas ! O 
Lord God, ^wherefore hast thou 
at all brought this people over 

e 1 Sam. 4. 12. 2 Sam. 1. 2, and 13. 19. 
Neh. 9. 1. Job 2. 12, f Exod. 5. 22. 2 Kings 
3. 10. 

concern he expressed for the loss of 
so many lives evinced a heart full 
of tender and generous sympathies. 
Common generals would have ac- 
counted the loss of thirty-six men as 
nothing ; but th.e blood of Israel was 
precious in the sight of Joshua. 
We might have expected, too. that 
he Avould have blamed the spies for 
deceiving him in relation to the 
strength of the city ; and have pun- 
ished the soldiers for cowardice ; 
but he viewed the hand of God, ra- 
ther than of man in this disaster ; and 
this led to what all must admire, his 
deep humiliation before God. But 
his tender regard for the honor of 
the Divine name was that which 
eminently distinguished him on this 
occasion ; ' O Lord, what wilt thou 
do unto thy great name V This was 
the plea which Moses had often used, 
and to w^hich God had paid especial 
regard ; and the man that feels it in 
his soul, and urges it in sincerity and 
truth, can never be ultimately foiled. 
^ Put dust upon their heads. 



Rending the clothes, beating the 
breast, tearing the hair, putting dust 
on the head, and falling down pros- 
trate, have always been among East- 
ern nations the usual marks of deep 
affliction and distress. 

7. IVherefore hast thou brought this 
people, &c. Heb. "l^mS^n ni33/N1 he- 
abartd haabir, passing, caused to 
pass, i. e. by a most stupendous mir- 
acle. This prayer of Joshua ap- 



78 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



Jordan, to deliver us into the 
hand of the Amorites, to de- 
stroy us ? would to God we had 
been content, and dwelt on the 
other side Jordan ! 

pears at first view to have been 
prompted by a murmuring, com- 
plaining spirit very much akin to 
that manifested by the children of 
Israel on several occasions, in the 
wilderness. Ex. 14. 11, 12; 16. 3; 
Num. 14. 3. Taken according to the 
letter it has an air of bold and rather 
irreverent remonstrance, which w^ould 
not have been expected from the 
pious Captain of Israel, especially in 
a season of fasting and prayer, Avhen 
he appears to have been most pro- 
foundly humbled. But much of this, 
undoubtedly, arises from the diffi- 
culty of transfusing the precise im- 
port of the original into English. 
The expressions ' to deliver,' ' to de- 
stroy,' according to a very common 
idiom, imply not the design, but sim- 
ply the event. Joshua would not in- 
timate that God had led the people 
into Canaan with the ex^press inten- 
tion of delivering them into the hands 
of their enemies, but he humbly in- 
quires why he had permitted an oc- 
currence that seemed likely to issue 
in such an event, one entirely foreign 
to the original purpose. Before the 
phrase ' would to God,' &c., the word 
' and ' occurs in the Hebrew, which 
is totally disregarded by our trans- 
lators, requiring the sentence to be 
filled out by some such addition as 
this: — ' to destroy us, and (to cause 
us to say) would lo God we had been 
content,' &c. It is as if he should 
say ; — ' Should thy promises, O Lord 
God, now fail of accomplishment on 
account of our sin, the great miracle 



8 O Lord, what shall I say, 
when Israel turneth their backs 
before their enemies ! 

9 For the Canaanites, and all 
the inhabitants of the land shall 



thou hast wrought in bringing us 
over Jordan would seem to be una- 
vailing, and all thy past mercies 
abortive. To all human view it 
would have been better for us to have 
remained on the other side of Jordan, 
and loe shall be strongly prom/pied to 
wish that that had been the case, for 
it will be inferred from the event, 
that thy sole purpose in bringing us 
hither, was to deliver us into the 
hands of the Amorites for our de- 
struction, rather than to deliver them 
into our hands.' This we have no 
doubt is the real drift of Joshua's ex- 
postulation, and as nothing in the 
answer which God makes to him 
carries the air of reprehension or re- 
buke, we see no reason to think that 
any thing of the kind was merited. 
His words were evidently prompted 
by the most commendable feelings. 
He felt for the thousands of Israel 
whom he considered as abandoned 
to destruction. He felt^ too, for the 
glory of God, for he knew that should 
Israel be destroyed, God's great name 
would be blasphemed among the hea- 
then. He therefore uses an argu- 
ment based perhaps on the very 
words of God himself, Deut. 32. 27, 
' Were it not that 1 feared the wrath 
of the enemy, lest their adversaries 
should behave themselves strangely, 
and lest they should say,' &c. 

8. What shall I say, &c. Heb. 
' what shall I say after (i. e. since, 
or seeing that) Israel hath turned the 
neck before his enemies.' What 
construction shall I put upon it, or 



4 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



79 



hear of it^ and shall environ us 
round, and -cut oli* our name 
irom the earth : and ^' what wilt 
thou do unto thy great name ? 

10 TT And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, Get thee up ; wherefore 
iiest thou thus upon thy face ? 

;r Ps. 83. 4. h See Ex. 32. 12. Num. 14. 13. 

how shall I answer the reproaches 
and taunts of thine enemies, when 
Israel, thine own people, for whom 
tho-u ha.?t done such great things, 
and to whom thou hast made such 
glorious promises, when they turn 
their backs in ignoble flight before 
their enemies 1 He speaks as one 
at a looS what to think of the unhap- 
py erent that had just occurred ; as 
i( nothing more strange or marvel- 
lous could have happened than the de- 
feat oi the chosen people. 

9- Wliat wilt thou do to thy great 
name? i. e., What wilt thou do in re- 
spect to thy great name '? How wilt 
<hou preserve its glory unstained 
when such a flood of obloquy shall be 
poured upon it by the scoffing heathenl 
The cutting off of our name, though 
that Vi'Ould vastly disparage thy power 
and faithfalness, 5'et that is a matter 
of less consequence ; but, O Lord, 
how wilt thou consult the honor of 
thine ovfn blessed and glorious name, 
were such an advantage to be given 
to the adversary 1 Comp. Ex. 32. 12 ; 
Num. 14. 13; Joel 2. 27. 

10. Get tkeeup. Heb. "ji t^: kiim 
la/c, rise^ or stand up for thyself. 



IT Wherefore Iiest thou thus upon thy 
face? Heb. 'wherefore this, (that) 
thou an falling down upon thy face V 
i. e. continuing to fall, doing it again 
and again. Not the language of re- 
buke, as though God were displeased 
with Joshua for prostrating himself 



1 1 ' Israel hath sinned, and they 
have ai:so transgressed my cove- 
nant which 1 commanded them : 
4br they have even taken of the 
accursed thing, and have also 
stolen, and 'dissembled also, and 



i ver. 1. k ch.6. 17, 18. 1 See Acts 5. 1,2. 

in this humble posture, and bemoan- 
ing in bitterness of soul the disaster 
that had befallen Israel ; but merely 
implying that it was now enough 3 
that God would not have him any 
longer continue that mournful pos- 
ture ; that he had other work to do 
than to spend time in grieving and 
afflicting himself in view of what 
Vv-as past ; that he must arise and set 
about discovering the accursed thing, 
and casting it out ; in a word that he 
must lay aside his mourning weeds, 
and enter upon that which was es- 
pecially and pre-eminently at present 
incumbent upon him. ' For every 
thing there is a season, and it behoves 
us to see that the time is not spent in 
empty lamentation which God would 
have devoted to vigorous action in 
reforming what is amiss,' Henry. 

11, Israel hath sinned. For a view 
of the reason w^hy this is spoken of 
as the act of the whole body of Israel, 

see Note on v. 1. ^ Haze also 

transgressed my coveno.nt. That is, 
have broken the eondiiions of the 
covenant or agreement of general 
obedience intOAvhich they had before 
entered, Ex. 19. 8 ; 24. 7 ; or, have 
transgressed the particular precept 
relative to the accursed thing, ch. 6. 
19. Covenant, in the Scriptures, of^en 
has the sense of command, precept, 

ordinance. ^ Haxe also stolen. 

Have sacrilegiously taken and ap- 
propriated to their own use the por- 



so 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C, 1451 



they have put it even among 
their own stuff. 

12 '"Therefore the children of 
Israel could not stand before 
their enemies, but turned their 
backs before their enemies, be- 
cause "they were accursed : 
neither will I be with you any 
more, except ye destroy the 
accursed from among you. 

13 Up, ° sanctify the people, 

m See Num. 14. 45. Judg. 2. 14. " Deut. 
7. 26. ch. 6. 18. o Exod. 19. 10. 

lion which I had reserved to myself, 
and ordered to be brought into the 

treasury. ^ And dissembled also. 

Have covered the deed with deep 
dissimulation j instead of ingenuously 
confessing the sin and imploring 
pardon, have studiously endeavored 
to hide it, as if by concealing it from 
their brethren they had concealed it 
from me also. The crime is recited 
with the utmost particularity, in 
order that its various aggravations 
may be more impressively set forih. 

1 Have put it even among their 

cwn stuff. Among their own goods. 
12. Becaiise they were accursed. In 
exact accordance with the threaten- 
ing before denounced against them, 
ch. 6. 18. Joshua was thus informed 
that thiSj and nothing else, was the 
ground of the controversy which God 
now had with his people. They had, 
by their iniquity^ put themselves out 
of the range of his protection and 
blessing, and unless summary pun- 
ishment was executed upon the of- 
fender, they would transfer upon 
themselves the very curse denounced 
against their adversaries. IT Ex- 
cept ye destroy the accursed. The ac- 
cursed person with all that pertains 
to him, V. 24. 



and say, p Sanctify yourselves 
against to-morrow : for thus 
saith the Lord God of Israel, 
There is an accursed thing in 
the midst of thee, O Israel : thou 
canst not stand before thine ene- 
mies, until ye take away the 
accursed thing from among you. 
14 In the morning therefore 
ye shall be brought according 
to your tribes : and it shall be, 
that the tribe which "^the Lord 

P ch-3. 5. q Prov. 16. ^. 



13. Up^ sanctify the people. That 
iSy command and see that they sanc- 
tify themselves. Cause them to 
purify their persons by legal wash- 
ings,, but more especially to put them- 
selves into a suitable frame of mind 
to appear before God, and submit to 
the Divine scrutiny. Although the 
act of Aehan had been perpetrated 
with so much caution that it was un- 
perceived by aay human being, yet 
the eye of God had been upon it and 
he declared to Joshua the true reason 
of his displeasure, and of Israel's de- 
feat. But, though he revealed the 
fact, he did not name the person thRt 
had committed it, but left that to be 
discovered in a way more impressive 
to the nation, and more merciful to 
the offender, inasmuch as it gave 
him time for repentance and volun- 
tary acknowledgment. IT There is 

a% acctirsid thing, &€. Th« crime 
of sacrilege has been committed in 
the midst of thee, O I>FaeL 

14. Ye shall hi brought. Heb» 
GrD1p3 7iih-abtem, ye shall come near, 
i. e. to the tabernacle, or to the ark, 
wherever that might now be deposit- 
ed. Persons deputed from each tribe, 
to represent it, shall successively 

, come to appear before me, and re- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



SI 



taketh shall come according to 
the families thereof; and the 
family which the Lord shall 
take shall come by households ; 
and the household which the 
Lord shall take shall come man 
by man. 

15 ''And it shall be, that he 
that is taken with the accursed 
thing shall be burnt with fire, 

r See 1 Sam. 14. 3S, 39. 

ceive my orders. ^ The tribe 

ichich the Lord taketh. That is, the 
Iribe which shall be discovered or 
declared guilty by the lot. The tribe 
lb as indicated is said to be ' taken by 
the Lord,' because the lot was dis- 
posed of by him, according to Prov. 
16. 33 ; the transaction was specially 
overruled by him in his mysterious 
providence for the detection of the 
gailty. Of the sacred use of lots, 
see i Sam. 10. 20, 21-, 14. 41,42; 
Acts 1. 24. 23. The original for 
*take' has the import of arresting^ 
seizing^ being the appropriate term 
for the o.p;prehension of criminals, 

15. He that is taken v:ith the ac- 
cursed thing. Heb, D"ina balierem^ 
in the accursed thing. That is, he 
that is divinely pointed out as being 
involved in the guilt of the accursed 

thing. IT Shall be burnt with fire. 

The doom expressly appointed for 
persons or things accursed, Deut. 13. 
15, 16. In addition to this, and pre- 
viously to it, the culprit, as appears 
from V. 25, was to be stoned to death 
at the hands of the congregation. 
This was the punishment ordained 
for blasphemers and presumptuous 
offenders, Num. 15. 30, 35. We do 
read that Achan verbally blasphemed, 
but all high-handed, deliberate trans- 
gression is virtuosi blasphemy, and is 



he and all that he hath : because 
he hath 'transgressed the cove- 
nant of the Lord, and because 
he ^hath wrought folly in Is- 
rael. 

16 IT So Joshua rose up early 
in the mornino:, and brouo;ht Is- 
rael by their tribes ; and the 
tribe of Judah was taken : 

17 And he brought the family 

s ver. IL t Gen. 34. 7, Judg. 20. 6. 

so regarded in the judgment of hea- 
ven, ^ He and all that he hath. 

His sons, daughters, cattle and goods, 
&C.J all being in the Divine estima- 
tion, in consequence of their connex- 
ion with him. considered as infected 
with the taint of his guilt, and there- 
fore exposed to share with him in 
his condemnation. This may appear 
to human view a severe, if not an un- 
just sentence, but we can only say it 
is in strict accordance with the gen- 
eral analogy of God's providence in 
this world, and as such is to be un- 
hesitatingly acknowledged as bear- 
ing the impress of perfect equity and 

justice. ^ Hath icr ought folly in 

Isro.el. That is, a base, foolish and 
sinful deed, such as every wise and 
well principled man would utterly 
condemn. In this sense the term 
' folly ' frequently occurs. See Gen. 
34. 7 ; Deut. 32, 21 ; 2 Sam. 13. 12. 
It was a conduct that brouo-ht shame 
aod disgrace upon a nation, sustain- 
ing the reputation of a wise and un- 
derstanding people. 

17. Aiid he brought the family of 
Juda.h. That is, the several families, 
the collection of families, collect. 

sing, for plur. ^ He brought the 

family of the Zarhites^ man by man. 
It was ordered, v. 14, that all Israel 
should come near by tribes, and one 



82 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



of Judah ; and he took the fam- 
ily of the Zarhites ; and he 
brought the family of tlie Zar- 
hiles man by man ; and Zabdi 
was taken : 

18 And he brought his house- 
noJd man by man ; and Achan 

triba was to be fixed on ; then that 
tribe came by its families, and one 
llimily was fixed onj then came that 
family by its households, and one 
hoa.ehoid was fixed on; and finally 
that l-,ou>eliold coming man by man, 
on J man was fixed on. In the pre- 
s.nL passage there appears to be some 
confusion in this prescribed order of 
f-eicciion. In speaking of Zarhi the 
phrase 'by households' is left out, 
and ' man by man ' expressed twice. 
The probability is that a slight error 
has crept inio the original text; in- 
s'ead ofQ^ID^i laggebarim^manby 
7na?i, V. 17, the true word is undoubt- 
edly S^^Tilui lebottwij by households, 
cDd this reading, according to Ken- 
nicoit, is preserved in six Hebrew 
copies, and in the Syriac version. — 
The Israelites are summoned before 
the Lord, and the hour of recompense 
is at hand. The lots are gone forth. 
At first Achan might stand enwrap- 
ped in security, and little fearful that 
among the mighty multitude assem- 
bled around him, he alone should be 
detected ; but this groundless confi- 
dence could not long abide. The 
tribe of Judah, to which he belonged, 
is taken ; and the probabilities of dis- 
covery are vastly increased. Some 
rising fear begins to struggle wdth 
his self-possession, and now his heart 
throbs with a quicker and louder 
alarm; for the family of the Zarhites, 
of which he was a member, is select- 
ed, as containing the guilty man. 



the son of Carmi, the son of 
Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the 
tribe of Judah, "was taken. 

19 And Joshua said unto 
Achan, My son, ''give, I pray 

u 1 Sam. 14. 42. x See 1 Sam. 6. 5. Jar. 
13. 16. John 9. 24. 

That family comes now by its house- 
holds, and lo, the household of Zabdi 
is taken. Whither now shall Achan 
flee, and >vhere is the hope of con- 
cealment with which he lulled his 
soul to sleep in its guilt and crime 1 
The family of Zabdi advances, and 
the last lots are given forth ; and be- 
hold, Achan, the son of Carmi, is 
found and stands among the many 
thousands of Israel, pointed out by 
the unerring finger of God. as the 
man who had taken the accursed 
thing, and made himself a curse by 
this presumptuous act of sacrilege. — 
' We may well imagine how Achan's 
countenance changed, and what hor- 
ror and confusion seized him, when 
he was singled out as the delinquent, 
w^hen the eyes of all Israel were 
fastened upon him, and every one 
was ready to say. Have w^e found 
thee, O our enemy !' Henry. 

19. And Joshua said unto Achan, My 
son. Adopting this afifectionate style 
of address to show that the present 
severe proceedings against him were 
not prompted by any personal ill will, 
or an angry spirit of revenge. Though 
he w^as obliged to act as a magistrate; 
yet he was willing Achan should 
know that he felt as a father, and in 
so doing proposed a noble example 
to all w^ho have the administration 
of justice, 'not to insult over those 
who are in misery, though they may 
have brought themselves into it by 
their own wickedness, but to treat 



B. G. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



83 



thee, glory to the Lord God of 
Israel, - and make confession un- 
to hiui ; and ^teii me no\/ Vvbat 
thou hast done, hide it not from 
me. 

y Numb. 5. 6, r. 2 Chron. 30. 22. Ps. 51. 
3. Dau. y. 4. ^ 1 Sauj. 14 43 



even offenders with the spirit of meek- 
ness, not knowing what we ourselves 
should have done, if God had put us 
into the hand of our own counsels. 

Uziiry. -*iT Give glory to the Lord 

God of Israel. Heb. "12^ t)"^!!) sim 
kabod^ put, appoint, ordain, glory to 
the Lord God. That is, by confess- 
ing the truth, by honestly pleading 
guiliy to the charge, by ingenuously 
acknowledging the sin and the jus- 
tice of the punishment which it in- 
curred. By so doing he would not 
only ascribe to God the glory of his 
omniscience, from which no secrets 
are hid, in detecdng and exposing 
the crime, but also of his justice in 
punishing it. He would in fact 
thereby most effectually give him 
the praise of all his perfections, and 
con.=sult the best interests of his soul 
in the world to come. It appears 
kom a similar usage in several other 
instances, that God regards the con- 
fession of the truth as very intimately 
connected with giving him glory. 2 
Chron. 30. 8 Thus, Luke 23. 47, 
* Now Vv^hen the centurion saw what 
vras done, he glorified God (i. e. gave 
hiin glory), saying, certainly this was 
a righteous man.' John 9. 24, ' Then 
ao-ain called they the man that w^as 
blind, and said unto him, Give God 
the proAse ; Ave know that this man is 
a sinner;' on which passage Mr. 
Barnes remarks, ' The meaning here 
is not, " give God the praise for heal- 
ing you," but confess that you have 
declared to us a falsehood ; and that 



20 And Achan answered Josh- 
ua, and said. Indeed I have sin- 
ned ao;ainst the Lord God of 
Israel, and thus and thus have 
I done. 

21 When I say/ among: the 



among 



you have endeavored to impose on 
us; and by thus confessing your sin 
give praise and honor to God, vv'ho 
condemns all imposture and false- 
hood; and whom you will thus ac- 
knowledge to be right in your con- 
demnation.' Nothing should be more 
deeply impressed upon the mind of 
the sinner, than that the humble and 
penitent confession of guilt tends di- 
rectly .to the glory of God, and that 
withholding confession is robbing 
him of his right, as well as incurring 

his displeasure. IT Tell me now 

ichat thou hast done. The testimony 
of God Avould have been sufficient, 
vz-ho could neither deceive nor be de- 
ceived. Joshua also, who was now 
knowing to his crime, might have 
declared it. but he could not prove it ; 
and as it was intended that the offen- 
der should be made a public monu- 
ment of justice, and be held up as a 
warning to the whole nation, it was 
desirable that the most indisputable 
evidence of his guilt should be ad- 
duced. He is made therefore himself 
to supply a testimony which none 
could controvert or doubt; even to 
bear witness against himself. Joshua 
requires this confession to be made to 
him, because he stood, both to Achan 
and to the people, in God's stead. It 
was in effect the same, therefore, as 
making it to God himself 

20. Ind.eed I have sinned, &c. The 
confession, though not made till it 
was extorted, was finally made with 
great frankness and ingenuousness. 



84 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. I45I 



spoils a goodly Babylonish gar- 
ment, and two hundred shekels 
of silver, and a wedge of gold 
of fifty shekels weight, then 1 

He recites the circumstances of the 
act in all their particulars, and with 
all their aggrav^ations ; attempts no 
excuse or extenuation ; complains not 
of the severity of the sentence, nor 
geeks to prevent or delay its execu- 
tion ; from which we may indulge 
the hope^ however feeble, that the poor 
culprit found mercy for his soul. 

21. A goodly Babijlonish garment, 
Hcb. ^3?:-: ni"li^ addereth Shinar, a 
^pUndid or cosily robe, of Shinar, ren- 
dered ^ Babylonish garment,' because 
Babylon or Babel was situated in the 
plain of Shinar. Bochart and Cal- 
niet have shown at large that Baby- 
lonish robes were very splendid and 
in high repute. Ezek, 23. 15. Jose- 
phus calls it ' a royal garment woven 
en irely of gold,' The word signifies 
such a robe or mantle as princes wore 
when they appeared in state, Jon. 3, 6, 
end this probably belonged to the 

king of Jericho, IT Two hundred 

shekels of silver. In weight, not in 
coin. Its value in our currency was 
a little upwards of one hundred dol- 
lar-. ^ A w-edge of gold. Heb. 

l^nt ^T^i leshon zcihabj a tongue of 
gold^ 1. e. what we understand by an 
ingot of gold, a corruption, according 
to A. Clarke, of the word lingot, from 
the Lat. lingular signifying a little 

tongue. IT / coveted them and took 

them. The three words occurring in 
this narrative, * I saw — I coveted — I 
took,' strikingly express the rise, pro- 
gresSy and consummation of crime. 
The whole process is here laid open. 
The inward corruption of the heart 
is first drawn forth by some enticing 



coveted them, and took them, 
and behold, they are hid in the 
earth in the midst of my tent, 
and the silver under it. 

object. The desire of gratification 
is then formed, and the determina- 
tion to attain -it fixed. Then comes 
the act itself, followed by its bitter 
and fearful consequences. In tliis 
instance the temptation entered by 
the eye ; he saio those fine things as 
Eve saw the forbidden fruit ; and he 
allowed his ej^es to gaze and feast 
upon the interdicted objects. The 
sight inflamed his desire ; and he 
coveted them. The next step was to 
carry out the feeling into act : the 
desire prompted him to take them, as 
he actually did, and thus accom- 
plished the fearful deed. So natu- 
rally does lust, when it hath con- 
ceived, bring forth sin, and sin when 
finished bringeth forth death. Ths 
only way to avoid sin in action is to 
quench its incipient workings in ihe 
heart, to mortify sinful desires, espe- 
cially the desire of worldly weahh, 
the source of such untold evils in the 
world. We are ever in this world 
surrounded by incitements to sin, but 
we are to pass in the midst of them, 
like the Israelites among the spoils 
of Jericho, under the abiding im- 
pression that the interdict of Heaven 
is upon the least forbidden indul- 
gence. And as the eye is the great 
inlet to that mischief which works 
upon the heart, our only safety is in 
making, with Job, a covenant witli 
our eyes, and continually uttering 
the prayer of David, ' Turn away 
mine eyes from beholding vanity, 

and quicken me in thy way.' 

IF And the silver under it. That is, 
under the Babylonish garment ; cov- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



8& 



22 H" So Joshua sent messen- 
gers, and they ran unto the tent, 
and behold, it ivas hid in his 
tent, and the silver under it. 

23 And they took them out of 
the midst of the tent, and brought 

nem unto Joshua, and unto all 

ered with it, concealed by it, or wrap- 
ped up in it. 

22. So Joshua, sent messengers. To 
put to the test the truth of his confes- 
sion. ^ And they roM unto the tent. 

Ran^ not only to show their alacrity 
in obe3ang Joshua's orders, bat to 
show also how uneasy they were till 
the camp vras cleared of the accursed 
thing, and the Divine favor regained. 
IF It vjas hid. That is, the parcel 



of things mentioned v. 21, 24. 

23. Laid them out before the. Lord. 
Heb. mn"> ^It^ ^Ip^*^ yatzikam 
liphyie Yehovah, poured them out he- 
fore the Lord. That is, before the 
ark of the covenant, the hallowed 
sign of the Lord's presence, where 
Joshua and the elders were awaiting 
the issue of the transaction. 

24. And his sons and his daughters. 
As no inlimadon is given that 
Achan's sons or any of his family 
were accessary to his crime, we are 
not warranted, perhaps, in supposing 
that they were now condemned to 
suffer on that account ; although it 
may be admitted that he could not 
very easily hav^e concealed the arti- 
cles in the midst of the tent without 
some of its inmates being privy to it. 
But. the supposition of their guilt we 
do not deem necessary to vindicate 
the equity and justice of the sentence. 
As all lives are really forfeited by 
sin ; as the ungodly deserve worse 
punishment than temporal death, 
and as God, the supreme arbiter of 

8 



the children of Israel, and laid 
them out before the Lord. 
24 And Joshua, and all Israel 

I with him, took Achan the son 
of Zerah, and the silver, and the 
garment, and the wedge of gold, 

; and his sons, and his daughters, 

, life and death, may exact the debt 
I which all. owe in any way or time 
\ that seemeth to him good, we know 
' not who can question the righteous- 
; ness of his judgment on this occasion. 
I If evil, no injustice would be done 
; them, and if good, they would the 
\ sooner be taken to their reward ; 

■ and we can easily conceive that the 

■ death of a few persons at this par- 
j ticular juncture, and under the sol- 
I emn circumstances in which they 

now stood, might be attended with the 
happiest results. They were now 
in the commencement of their na- 
I tional existence in Canaan. It was 
I necessary that the people should 
I know, by a fresh demonstration, 
I what a God they had to do with. 
I Whilst they learned from his mer- 
; cies how greatly he was to be loved, 
i they needed also to learn from his 
I judgments how greatly he was to be 
I feared. This lesson would be effect- 
I ually taught them by the present act 
i of severit)^, and the death of a sin- 
! gle individual might, by its admoni- 
tory influence, be the means of after- 
wards preventing the death of many 

thousands. IT Ris oxen.^ and his 

asses, and his sheep. Brute beasts are 
of course incapable of sin and so of 
punishment, properly so called, but 
•s they are made for man's use, and 
are daily killed for food, there seems 
no improprie:3'.in taking away their 
lives for moral purposes, to show us 
more impressively the destruative 



86 



JOSHUA. 



fB. C. 1451. 



and his oxen, and his asses^ and 
his sheep, and his tent, and all 
that he had : and they brought 
them unto ^ the valley of Achor. 
25 And Joshua said ''Why 

a ver. 26. ch. 15. 7. b ch. 6. 18. 1 Chron. 
2.7. Gal, 5. 12. 

and detestable nature of sin. The 
truth is, the animal world being 
originally formed for the service 
of man, is to be considered as 
a kind of appendage to him and 
so IS made to share in his lot, 
"whether of weal or we. On this 
principle the earth wdth its various 
tribes felt the effects of the curse 
when Adam sinned, and the whole 
creation has groaned in bondage ever 
since. Occurrences like that men- 
tioned in the text are merely illus- 
trations of this general law. 

'^Aiid theij brought them unto the r al- 
ley of Achor. Heb. I^S^^I vayaalu, 
hi ought them up. made them go up or 
ascend. Persons are generally said 
to descend to a valley, but the phra- 
seology here is probably founded on 
the relative situation of the valley 
and the camp. In going to it they 
may have been obliged to travel 
some distance over the hilly country, 
towards the interior. This would be 
ascending from the Jordan, and that 
such was the fact is to be inferred 
from ch. 15. 7. The valley is called 
Achor by anticipation. It was so 
named from the event. 

25. Why hast thou troubled us? 
the Lord shall trouble thee this day. 
This is said in allusion to the words 
of the warning, ch. 4. 18, 'Lest ^e 
make the camp of Israel a curse and 
trouble it.' From this circumstance 
his name Achan seems to have been 
changed io Achar^trouble^i. e. troubler. 



hast thou troubled us ? the Lord 
shall trouble thee this day. 
"And all Israel stoned him ^viih 
stones, and burned them witii 
fire, after they had stoned them 
with stones. 

c Deut. 17. 5. 



1 Chron. 2. 7. See on ch. 6. 18. 
How strikingly did Achan 's conduct 
verify the saying of Solomon, Prov. 
15. 27, ' He that is greedy of gain 
troubleth his own house ;' and how 
clear from this instance, is it that sin 
is a very troidjlesome, as well as a 
very wicked thing, and that not only 
to the sinner himself, but to all around 
him. When Ahab met Elijah, he 
cried, in the consciousness of his 
own offences, 'Art thou he that 
troubleth Israel V * I have not 
troubled Israel,' answered the indig- 
nant prophet, ' but thou and thy 
father's house, in that ye have for- 
saken the commandments of the 
Lord.' Such was virtually the lan- 
guage of Joshua to Achan on this 

occasion. ^ And all Israel stoned 

hir/iwilh stones. The burning there- 
fore commanded, v. 15, must have 
reference to the dead body. He was 
first stoned, and his carcase then con- 
signed to the flames, himself and all 
his sharing the same fate. ' He per- 
ished not alone in his iniquity.' The 
punishment is said to have been exe- 
cuted by ' all Israel,' not because 
every individual without exception 
had a hand in it, but because all were 
present as spectators, all were con- 
senting to the act, and as many as 
could be were active agents in it in 
the name of the rest. This showed 
the univ^ersal detestation of the deed, 
and their anxiety to avert from them 
the Divine displeasure. 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VII. 



26 And they '^ raised over him 
a great heap of stones unto this 
day. So Uhe Lord turned 

d ch. 8. 29. 2 Sam. 18. 17. Lam. 3. 53. 
e Deut, 13. 17. 2 Sam. 21. 14. 

26. Raised over him a great heap 
of stones. As a monument to per- 
petuate [he memory of this transac- 
tion, and to serv^e as a warning to all 
future generations to beware of pre- 
sumptuous sin. The burying place 
of Absalom was distinguished by a 
similar erection, as a monument of 
his disgrace to future ages. 2 Sam. 

18. 17. ^ Unto this day. That is, 

that remaineth unto this day. In a 
parallel passage, ch. 8. 29, the sup- 
plementary words ' that remaineth ' 

are inserted in the text. IT Was 

called the valley of Achor. Or, Heb. 
11^5> p)y$ emak akar^ the valley of 
trouble, from the event. In Hos. 
2. 15, the valley of Achor is said to 
be given to Israel as a ' door of hope,' 
in allusion to the transaction that 
now occurred here, and implying, 
perhaps, that when they had repented 
and put away the accursed thing, 
then there would begin to be a door 
of hope coDcerning them, and that 
the very places, which had before 
been the scenes of troiMesome judg- 
ments and the memorials of wrath, 
should henceforth become odI^^ the 
mementos of the most signal mercies. 
Compare Ezra 10. 2. Where sin is 
seen and lamented, and decisive steps 
taken towards reformation, there are 
tokens for good, and even gross 
offenders may receive encourage- 
ment. God is always pleased to 
have the monuments of his displea- 
sure converted, by the conversion of 
sinners, into the remembrancers of 
kindness. — From the foregoing nar- 



from the fierceness of his anger : 
wherefore the name of that 
place was called, 'The valley 
of Achor, unto this day. 

f ver. 24. Isai. 65. 10. Hos. 2. 15. 

rative we may deduce the following 
reflections. 

(l)Thedeceitfulnessofsin. Achan, 
at first, had in mind only the satis- 
faction he should feel in possessing 
the Babylonish garment and the 
wedge and shekels of gold and silver. 
The ideas of shame and remorse and 
misery were hid from him. Bat ah ! 
with what different thoughts did he 
contemplate his gains, when inquisi- 
tion was made to discover the oflend- 
er ! How would he begin to tremble 
when he saw that his own tribe was 
selected as containing the guilty per- 
.^on ! How would his terror be in- 
creased when he saw his own family 
pointed out ! and what dread would 
seize upon him when the lot fell upon 
his household ! What a paleness 
would spread over his cheeks, and 
what a trembling would take hold 
of his limbs ! What now becomes 
of all his expected enjoyments 1 
What beauty does he now see in the 
splendid garment, or what value in 
the shining metals '? Ah! could he 
but recall the act. which has thus 
brought him to shame and ruin ! B ut 
it is too late ! The deed is done, and 
the sense of guilt, as with the fangs 
of a serpent, has fastened itself upon 
his inmost spirit ! Thus too Avith the 
transgressor of every name. The 
thief the adulterer, the seducer, in 
the commission of crime, thinks only 
of the pleasure the gratification of 
his lusts will aflbrd. But he has no 
sooner attained his object than his 
before blinded eyes are opened, and 



88 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



CHAPTER Vin. 

AND the Lord said unto 
Joshua, "^ Fear not^ neither 

a Dcut. 1. 21, and 7. 18, and 31. 8. ch. 1. 9. 

the enormity of his sin stares him 
full in the face. Then he finds that 
it stings like a serpent and bites like 
an adder. 

(2) The certainty of its exposure. 
Achan look great precautions to con- 
ceal his iniquity, but it was unavail- 
ing. Men may hide their wickedness 
from their fellow men, but not from 
God. His providence will sooner or 
later bring the hidden iniquity to the 
light, and for the most part in this 
world. But certainly in the great 
day of the revelation of all things. 
To every sinner therefore may the 
solemn warning be addressed, ' Be 
sure your sin will find you out.' 

(3) The awfulness of its reward. 
Who does not shudder at the thought 
of that vengeance which was exe- 
cuted on Achan and his family 1 
Who does not see how fierce the in- 
dignation of God against sin was, 
when the sin of one single person pre- 
vailed more to provoke him against 
the whole nation, than the innocence 
of the whole did to pacify his wrath 
against the individual ; when in 
fact nothing but the most signal pun- 
ishment of the individual could re- 
concile him to the nation to which 
he belonged 1 Yet was all this but 
a faint shadow of the indignation 
which he will manifest in a future 
w^orld. We should profit from such 
a history as this. We should learn 
to dread the displeasure of the Al- 
mighty, and to glorify him now by 
an ingenuous confession, that he may 
not be glorified hereafter in our eter- : 
nal condemnation. [ 



be thou dismayed : take all the 
people of war with thee, and 
arise, go up to Ai : see, H have 

b ch. 6. 2. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1. Fear not, neither be thou dis- 
mayed. The sin of Achan and its 
consequences had probably weighed 
deeply on the spirits of Joshua griev- 
ing and discouraging him, so as to 
render this renewed exhortation pe- 
culiarly seasonable at this time. 
When we have faithfully put away 
the sin that separated between God 
and us, we may confidently expect 
the light of his countenance to be re- 
stored to us, and that he will animate 
us with such encouragements as shall 
banish the fear of our most formida- 
ble enemies. IF Take all the jicople 

of war iciih thee. This can hardly 
be understood of the whole number 
of men of war in the congregation, 
which amounted to upwards of six 
hundred thousand. It is more prob- 
able that by ' all the people of war ' 
is to be understood the thirty thou- 
sand men mentioned v 3, the choi- 
cest part, the flower of the host, those 
who were most experienced in war- 
like afl^airs. The main body of the 
soldiery remained in the camp at 

Gilgal. IT / have given. I have 

purposed to give. The even! is cer- 
tain, that they shall be delivered into 

your power. ^And his land. That 

is, the territory immediately adjoin- 
ing the city, and under the jurisdic- 
tion of the king. 

2. Thou shall do to Ai and her king 
as thou didst uuto Jericho and her 
king. That is, in general, in tlie 
main, not in every particular. Ai 
was to be overcome and destroyed, 
and in this respect its fate was to re- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VIII. 



89 



given into thy hand the king of 
Ai, and his people, and his city, 
and iiis land. 

2 And thou shalt do to Ai and 
her king, as thou didst unto 
*" Jericlio and her king ; only 
"^ the spoil thereof, and the cattle 
thereof, shall ye take for a prey 

c ch. 6. 21. d Deut. 20. 14. 

semble that of Jericho. But the pre- 
cise manner of its destruction was 
not the same ; the king of Ai was not 
to be put to death b\' the sword, as 
the king of Jericho had been, nor 
was a curse denounced against him 
that should rebuild Ai, as was the 

case in regard to Jericho. ^ Only 

the spoil thereof— shall ye take to your- 
selves. This was the grand point of 
difference in the prescribed manner 
of treating the two cities. In the one 
case, the spoil was granted to the 
people ; in the other not. T here was, 
therefore, no danger of their commit- 
ting the same trespass here that they 
had there. ' Observe how Achan, 
who catched at forbidden spoil, lost 
that, and life, and all; but the rest of 
the people, who had conscientiously 
refrained from the accursed thing, 
were quickly recompensed for their 
obedience with the spoil of Ai. The 
way to have the comfort of what God 
allows, is, to forbear what he forbids 
us. No man shall lose by his self- 
denial.' Henry. ^Lay thee an am- 
bush for the city behind it. That is, 
on the west side of the city, as the 
Israelites, at the time of receiving 
this command, were on the east side 
of it, and the orientals, in designating 
the relative position of places, were 
always supposed to face the east. 
This stratagem is to be justified on 
the ground that God commanded it, 



unto yourselves : lay thee an 
ambush for the city behind it. 

3 TT So Joshua arose, and all 
the- people of war, to go up 
against Ai : and Joshua chose 
out thirty thousand mighty men 
of valor, and sent them away 
by night. 



and it is obvious that if it was right 
for them to overpower their enemies, 
I it was equally right to out-wit them, 
I if they could do it. ' No treaties 
were violated, no oaths broken, no 
falsehoods uttered ; and it cannot be 
requisite to inform our enemies of 
our intentions and purposes, however 
they may be deceived by appear- 
ances. But perjuries, lies, and infrac- 
tions of treaties cannot, in any war 
or in any case, be allowable or ex- 
cusable.' Scott. 

3. So Joshua arose to go up against 
Ai. That is, set about the business 
of going up, took measures prepara- 
tory to it, consulted and laid the plan 
of operations. It does not express 
the fact of their actually marching 
towards Ai, for this is inconsistent 
with what follows, but according to 
a familiar idiom of the Hebrew, on 
which we have remarked before, ch. 
6. 25, merely implies their entering 
upon the preliminary measures. ' To 
arise,' in innumerable instances in 
the scriptures, means nothing more 
than to address one's self to a particu- 
lar business^ to set about it, to engage 

in it. ^ Chose out thirty thousand 

mighty men. The whole number of 
men to be employed on this occasion. 

If And sent them awoAj by night. 

That is, as we suppose, not the Avhole 
of the thirty thousand, but the party 
of five thousand expressly mentioned 



90 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



4 And. he commanded them, 
saying, Behold ""ye shall lie in 
wait against the city, even be- 
hind the city : go not very far 
from the city, but be ye all ready : 

5 And J, and all the people 
that are with me, will approach 
unto the city : and it shall come 
to pass when they come out 
against us, as at the first, that 
'we will flee before them, 

6 (For they will come out 
after us) till we have drawn 
them from the city ; for they 
will say, They flee before us, as 

e Judg. 20. 29. f Judg. 20. 32. 

V. 12. The next verse, as well as v. 
9, seems to limit it to those who were 
' to lie in wait,' and these were un- 
questionably the five thousand, and 
not the whole detachment specified 
above, who could not well have exe- 
cuted such a design without being 
discovered. It is true that, according 
to this interpretation, Ave must suppose 
the pronoun * ihem ' to be put before 
its antecedent, which is left to be in- 
ferred from the tenor of the ensuing 
narrative, but this is no unusual 
thing with the sacred writers. See 
Ex. 14. 19 ; Ps. 87 1 ; 105. 19 ; Prov. 
7. 8. On any other mode of con- 
struction it is extremely difficult to 
make out a consistent narration of 
the facts, unless it be supposed that 
the verbs here should be rendered 
' had chosen,' and ' had sent/ and the 
entire portion, from this place to the 
end of V. 9, be taken as a parenthesis, 
which is not improbable. The rea- 
sons for sending an ambuscade by 
night are too obvious to require re- 
mark. 
4. And he commanded them. That 



at the first : therefore we will 
flee before them. 

7 Then ye shall rise up from 
the ambush, and seize upon the 
city : for the Lord your God 
will deliver it into vour hand. 

8 And it shall be when ye have 
taken the city, that ye shall set 
the city on fire : according to 
the commandment of the Lord 
shall ye do. "See, 1 have com- 
manded you. 

9 IF Joshua therefore sent them 
forth ; and they went to lie in 
ambush, and abode between 

g 2 Sam. 13 28. 

is, the party of 5,000 just spoken of 
as sent away by night. 

5. All the people that are icith me. 
That is, the 25,000 remaining after 
the 5,000 were sent away, and whom 
he kept for a lure to draw out the 

inhabitants of Ai from the city. 

^ As at the first. As on the former 
expedition, when Israel was so sadly 
w^orsted. 

6. Till we have dravra them. Pleb. 
l-p^rin hattikemi, till we have pulled^ 
or plucked them. 

7. Thc7i shall ye rise up from the 
ambush. Upon the signal given, v. 18. 

8. Ye shall set the city on fire. Pro- 
bably this means no more than that J 
they should kindle a fire in the city, " 
the smoke of which should be an in- 
dication that they had taken it. Had 
they set fire to the whole city, the 
spoils which were to be divided 
among the people, would have been 

all consumed. It appears, moreover, 
from V. 28, that the city was not burnt 
till afterwards. 

9. Joshua therefore sent them forth 
That is, the detachment of five thou- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VIII. 



91 



Beth-el and Ai, on the west side 
of Ai : but Joshua lodged that 
night among the people. 

10 And Joshua rose up early 
in the morning, and numbered 
the 2ieople, and went up, he and 
the elders of Israel, before the 
people to Ai. 

11 ''And all the people, even 
the people of war that were with 
him, went up, and drew nigh, 
and came before the city, and 
pitched on the north side of Ai : 

Ii ver. 5. 

sand spoken of above, and designated 

by the pronoun ' them,' v. 3. 

IT Joshua lodged that night among 
the people. That is, the people of 
war, as they are called, v. 11, or in 
other words the 25,000. Others sup- 
pose the night was spent at the camp 
at Gilgal, with the main body of the 
people. But this is less likely. 

10. Numbered the people. Or, Heb. 
1pS"^1 va-yiphkod, visited, inspecied^ 
mustered, set in order. This again 
probably means the band of 25,000, 
whom he carefully reviewed to see 
that they were in perfect readiness, 
and that none had withdrawn them- 
selves during the darkness of the 
night preceding. It would thus also 
appear more clearly when the work 
was done that it was effected without 
any loss of men, whereby a new 
ground of encourage ment and con- 
fidence in God would be afforded. 

^He and the elders of Israel. As 

a kind of council of war, to give 
more weight and solemnity to the 
proceeding, and to see to the just and 
equal distribution of the spoil. The 
elders were usually associated with 
the leader in every important meas- 



now there was a valley between 
them and Ai. 

12 And he took about five 
thousand men, and set them to 
lie in ambush between Beth-el 
and Ai, on the west side of the 
city. 

13 And when they had set the 
people, even all the host that 
was on the north of the city, 
and their liers in wait on the 
west of the city, Joshua went 
that night into the midst of the 
valley. 



ure that concerned the interests of the 
people. 

12. And he took about jive thousand 
men. Rather, ' he had taken.' The 
Terse is apparently thrown in as a 
parenthesis, with a view to give a 
more particular explanation of what 
is said, in a general way, v. 3, 9. In- 
cidents omitted in their proper place 
are often brought in, in this manner, 
in order to prevent the interruption 
of the previous narrative. 

13. Their Hers in wait. Heb, 
' their lying in wait, their ambus- 
cade,' abst. for concrete. Or it 
maybe rendered ' their heel,' i. e. the 
hinder part of the army, referring to 

the party that lay in ambush. 

Tf Went that night into the midst of 
the valley. That is, as is most 
likely, very early in the morning, 
when it was yet dark, as John 20. 1. 
It seems hardly probable, tha.t when 
every thing was ready they should 
have remained inactive during a 
whole day. We prefer the opinion 
that Joshua, having sent away the 
five thousand in the evening of the 
previous day, and having taken a 
few hours' sleep with the 25,000, rose 



92 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451. 



14 IT And it came to pass when 
the king of Ai saw it^ that they 
hasted and rose up early, and 
the men of the city went out 
against Israel to battle, he and 
all his people, at a time appoint- 
ed, before the plain : but he 
'wist not that there were liers in 
ambush against him behind the 
city. 

15 And Joshua and all Israel 

i Judg. 20. 34. Eccles. 9. 12. 

at a very early hour, perhaps a 
little after midnight, and had them 
inspecled, which might be speedily 
done by the aid of the officers, and 
then went, at so early an hour that 
it might still be called night, into 
the valley, perhaps alone, to suppli- 
cate God for a blessing on the en- 
terprise in which he was now en- 
gaged, and which had come so near 
to its crisis ; or, it may imply that 
at this time he led the army through 
the valley^ and when the day dawned 
appeared in full view^ of the city, 
from whence the king and people 
immediately sallied oui in pursuit. 

14. When the king of Ai savj it, 
they hasted and rose up early. That 
is, when the king was injormed of 
it, by the city guards, an alarm was 
immediately given, and the citizens 
who had not yet risen hurried from 
their beds, and soon commenced the 
pursuit. ' To see,' in scripture usage, 
ofcen ha's the sense of to knon\ to 

learn, to understand. IT He and all 

his people. That is, all the men of 
war; for the rest, the old men, the 
women, and children, remained in 

the city, as appears, v. 24. IT At a 

time appointed. Heb. ^5^1)3 moed, 
either an appointed time, or a con- 
certed signal^ as the same word is 



^made as if they were beaten 
before them, and fled by the 
way of the wilderness. 

16 And all the people that 
were in Ai were called together 
to pursue after them : and they 
pursued after Joshua, and were 
drawn away from the city. 

17 And there was not a man 
left in Ai, or Beth-el, that went 
not out after Israel : and they 

k Judff. 20. 36,(l-c. 



rendered where it occurs in Judg. 
20. 38. 

15. Made as if they iccre Uaten. 
Turned their backs. Heb. ^SX^ 
yinnageu, were beaten or smitten; but 
rightly understood, as here rendered, 
oi apparently suffering themselves to 
be beaten, to make a show or pre- 
tence of being beaten. See a like 
phraseology, Gen. 42. 7; 2 Sam. 13. 

5. '^Fled by the way of the icilder- 

ness. Lying between Ai and Jeri- 
cho or Gil gal. 

16. And all the people that wei'e in 
Ai. That is, all who had not sallied 
out before, all the men able to bear 
arms who remained behind when 
the first body of pursuers issued forth 
from the city. Some portion of the 
population, how^ever, was .still left. 



who were afterwards 
The original word for 



slain, V. 24. 
' v>^ere called 



together' is IpS^t"" yizzaekii, which 
properly signifies v^ere cried together, 
that is, were summoned by mutual 

shouts and vociferations. "^TVere 

drawnaway. Heb. IplTiD^ yinnatheku, 
were plucked or pulled. 

17. Was not a man left in Ai. Not 
a man that was able to bear arms, 

not one fit for military service. 

IF Or Bethel. This city, situated at 
three miles distance from Ai, was 



B. C. 1451. ] 



CHAPTER VIII. 



93 



left the city open, and pursued 
after Israel. 

IS And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, Stretch out the spear 
that is in thine hand toward Ai ; 
for I will oive it into thine hand. 
And Joshua stretched out the 
spear that he had in his hand 
toward the city. 

19 And the ambush arose 
quickly out of their place, and 
they ran as soon as he had 
stretched out his hand, and they 
entered into the city, and took 
it, and hasted, and set the city 
on fire. 

20 And when the men of Ai 
looked behind them, they saw, 
and behold, the smoke of the 

probably confederate with it, and 
aiding it with forces on the present 
occasion. 

18. Stretch out the spear that is in 
thine hand. That is, hold extended 
or stretched out, continue it in that 
position. Comp. v. 26. This was 
probably agreed upon as the signal 
to be given by Joshua to the men in 
ambush, to notify them of the precise 
moment when to issue forth from 
their retreat and rush into the city. 
If, as some commentators suppose, 
a flag or a burnished shield were 
fixed to the end of a long spear, pike, 
or lance, making it conspicuous from 
a distance, it would still belter an- 
swer the purpose intended. Con- 
joined with this there might have 
been, as far as we can see, another 
object in thus elevating the spear on 
this occasion; viz. that it should 
serve like the lifting up of Moses' 
hands in the battle with Amalek, as 
a token of the Divine presence and j 



city ascended up to heaven, 
and they had no power to flee 
this way or that way : and the 
people that fled to the wilder- 
ness turned back upon the pur- 
suers. 

21 And when Joshua and all 
Israel saw that the ambush had 
taken the city, and that the 
smoke of the city ascended, then 
they turned again, and slew the 
men of Ai. 

22 And the other issued out 
of the city against them ; so 
they w^ere in the midst of Israel, 
some on this side, and some on 
that side : and they smote them, 
so that they 4et none of them 
remain or escape. 

1 Deut. 7. 2. 

assistance, a pledge of the secret effi- 
cacy of the Almighty arm in securing 
them the victory. This seems highly 

probable from v. 26. % Set tJiecity 

on fire. See on v. 8. 

20. Had no poicer to flee. Heb. 
G'^l"' l\^ 16 yadaijim, no hand, i. e. 
no place, no quarter, no direction to 
which to flee, being hemm^ed in on 
every side. Most of the ancient ver- 
sions, however, render with ours^ 
' power, ability, strength,' in which 
sense it is certain that ' hand ' is 

sometimes used. ^Pursuers. Heb. 

v)^1^ rodeph, pursuer, collect, sing. 

21. When all Israel savj. That is, 
all the Israelites then present, all 
that were employed in this service. 
Such general expressions are often 
to be limited by the tenor of the nar- 
rative. 

22. And the other. Heb. f\'^W\ xe- 
elleh, and these, i. e. those who had 

formed the ambush. ^So that they 

let none of them remain or escape 



M 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



23 And the king of Ai they 
took alive, and brought him to 
Joshua. 

24 And it came to pass when 
Israel had made an end of slay- 
ino; all the inhabitants of Ai in 
the field, in the wilderness 
wherein they chased them, and 
when they were all fallen on the 
edge of the sword, until they 

Heb. 'so that there remained not to 
them a sur\avor (i. e. one taken 
alive) or one that escaped.' They 
were all indiscriminately put to the 
sword, with the single exception men- 
tioned in the next verse. 

23. The king of Ai iheij took alive. 
He was reserved for a more exem- 
plary and ignominious death as a 
warning to other kings who, like him, 
might be disposed to defy the power 
of Israel. 

24. Smote it with the edge of the 
sword. Heb. D^n ^"d^ lephi liereb, 
with the mouth of the sword. That 
is, the old men, women, and children 
who remained in the city, who had 
not joined in the pursuit, v. IG. 17. 

25. Both of men and loomen. Heb. 
Uliji^ ^\V^ iL'^i^?^ meish xe-ad ishah, 
from the man to the woman. 



IT Twelve thonsand^ even all the men of 
Ai. It seems scarcely credible that 
this number should have included all 
that were slain on this occasion, as it 
would leave the fighting men not 
more than two or three thousand, and 
yet this mere handful daring to go 
forth against a force of between twen- 
ty and thirty thousand ! Can we be- 
lieve them so infatuated, doomed 
though t'ley wevQ lo destruction ? 
We are constrained therefore to un- 
derstand the twelve thousand of the 
eftective men of arms, the sense in 



were consumed, that all the Isra- 
elites returned unto Ai, and smote 
it with the edge of the sword. 

25 And so it was, that all that 
fell that day, both of men and 
women, ivere twelve thousand; 
even all the men of Ai. 

26 For Joshua drew not hie 
hand back wherewith he stretch- 
ed out the spear, until he had 

which the phrase ' men of Ai ' occurs 
in V. 20. 21, as also the sing. * man,' 
V. 17. The assertion of the verse we 
suppose to be, that the number of the 
men of war who perished, together 
with their whole families, old men, 
women, and children, was twelve 
thousand. The latter are not express- 
ly but implicitly included in the enu- 
meration, and the proportion which 
they bore to the fighting men is a 
mere matter of inference. They 
were probably at least thrice as many. 
26. For Joshua drew not his hand 
hack, &c. The object of these words 
seems to be to assign the reason of 
the utter and unsparing destruction 
of the people of Ai. The movements 
of Israel were directed by the uplifted 
spear of Joshua. As long as that 
continued stretched out they were 
to persist in the work of slaughter. 
When it was let down they Avere to 
cease. This shows that the stretch- 
ing out of the spear was not designed 
merely as a signal to the men in am- 
bush, for in this case the continuance 
of the act would have been unneces- 
sary. It was doubtless intended to 
answer the same end as the uplifted 
hands of Moses on the occasion he- 
fore referred to, that is. as a visible 
sign of the presence and np.ency of 
Omnipotence in Irehalf of his people 
as long as it continued to be extend- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER VIII. 



95 



utterly destroyed all the inhabii- 
ants of Ai. 

27 "^Only the cattle and the 
spoil of that city Israel took for 
a prey unto themselves, accord- 
ino- unto the word of the Lord 

o 

which he " comnianded Joshua. 



m Numb. 31. 22, 26. n ver. 2. 

ed. To the judgment of sense there 
was perhaps little connexion between 
Joshua's holding forth his spear and 
the success of the combatants at a 
distance, and it might have appeared 
that he would hare been better em- 
ployed at the head of the army, ani- 
mating and directing them. But he 
knew who alone could give the vic- 
tory, and that a compliance with 
God's commands was the surest 
means of obtaining help from Him. 
Hence vnthout any apprehensions as 
to the issue, he maintained his stand 
before God, and held forth his spear 
till all his enemies were destroyed. 
Such is the confidence and persever- 
ance which the Christian is to evince 
in his conflicts with sin and Satan, 
notwithstanding the apparently little 
connexion between his poor efforts 
and the destruction of such mighty 
foes. It is perhaps in allusion to this 
circumstance that the phrase ' stretch- 
ing out the hand against ' is employ- 
ed by the prophets as equivalent to 
contending with^ or fighting against. 
Thus Is. 5. 25. ' Therefore is the an- 
ger of the Lord kindled against his 
people, and he hath stretched forth his 
hand against them, and hath smitten 
them: and the hills did tremble and 
their carcasses are torn in the midst 
of the streets. For all this his anger 
is not turned away, but his hand is 
stretched out stilly i. e. his judgments 



28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and 
made it "an heap for ever, er.en 
a desolation unto this day. 

29 PAnd the king of Ai he 
hanged on a tree until even-tide, 
"^and as soon as the sun was 
down, Joshua commanded that 

o Deut. 13. 16. P ch. 10. 26. Ps. 107.40. 
and 110. 5. q Deut. 21. 23. ch. 10, 27. 

Still continue as did the slaughter of 
the Aiites while Joshua's outstretched 

spear was not withdrawn. M Until 

fie had utterly destroyed. Heb. D'^'inn 
he'herim^ had devoted to a curse. 

28. Made it an heap for ever. Heb. 
tD^1>' bri telolam^ a.n heap of eternity, 
i. e. an everlasting heap, a perpetual 
pile of ruins. The meaning is, it was 
m.ade such for a long time, through 
a long trac: of ages : a frequent 
sense of the phrase ' for ever.' It 
seems to have been rebuilt about a 
thousand years afterwards, by the 
Benjamiies, Neh. 11. 31, under the 

name of Aija or Aiya. ^ Unto this 

day. IN ear the close of Joshua's life. 

29. The king ofAi he hanged. The 
kings of the devoted nations were 
dealt with with more exemplary se- 
verity than the common people, ke- 
cause they were more deeply crimi- 
nal, both in having formerly by their 
connivance encouraged the abomina- 
tions of their subjects, and in now 
instigating them to resistance, when 
they might and should have known 
that resistance was vain. In the pre- 
sent case, though the king of Ai w^as 
taken alive and brought to Joshua, 
yet it is not certain that he was not 
first put to death in some other way, 
and his body hung upon a tree after 
his execution as a mark of the ut- 
most disgrace and detestation. Upon 
consulting the following passages, 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



they should take his carcass 
down from the tree^ and cast it 
at the entering of the gate of the 
city, and "■ raise thereon a great 

r ch. 7. 26, and 10. 27. s Deut. 27. 4, 5. 

this opinion will appear far more 
plausible than the one which main- 
tains that he was first hnng, a mode 
of capital punishment that does not 
appear to have been customary in 
those early days, ch. 10. 26 ; 2 Sam. 4. 

12; 1 Sam. 31. 8-10. IT^s sooiias 

the sun icas down. This was accord- 
ing to the law, Deut. 21. 22, 23, ' If a 
man have committed a sin worthy of 
death, and he be to be put to death, 
and thou hang him on a tree; his 
body shall not remain upon the tree, 
but thou shalt in any wise bury him 

that day.' ^Cast it at the entering 

of the gOyte. The gates of cities were 
usually the places of judgment, of the 
transaction of the most important 
public business, and of general re- 
sort and rendezvous. We know of 
no other reason for casting the dead 
body of the king of Ai in this place, 
than that it was the most public place 
that could be chosen, one that would 
stamp the act with the utmost possi- 
ble notoriety. 

30. Joshua built an altar — in mount 
Ebal. This was in obedience to the 
command given Deut. 27. 42-48, on 
which see Notes. Mount Ebal, as 
well as mount Gerizim,was situated 
near Shechem in what was afterwards 
the tribe of Ephraim, and not far 
from the ancient Samaria. It was at 
a considerable distance from the camp 
at Gilgal, yet as it was a ceremony 
thai had been expressly commanded, 
and the performance of which was 
not to be delayed any longer than 
was absolutely necessary after they 



heap of stones, that remaineth 
unto this day. 

30 IT Then Joshua built an al- 
tar unto the Lord God of Israel 
'in mount Ebal, 



had entered Canaan, Dent. 27, 2, they 
seem to have penetrated in a body 
through the mountainous regions that 
intervened till they came to the ap- 
pointed place, although no details of 
the journey thither are given. View- 
ed in connexion with their then pre- 
sent circumstances the incident was 
a remarkable one. While engaged 
in the mid career of conquest, the, 
business of the war is suddenly sus- 
pended, and instead of pushing their 
victories on every side, after master- 
ing the frontier towns, they com- 
mence a peaceful march into ihe 
heart of the country to attend upon a 
religious solemnity ! But God had 
ordered it, and they cheerfully obey- 
ed. Whatsoever else stands still, the 
service of God must go forward. 
Whatever other interests may suffer, 
our spiritual concerns must receive 
attention. But in truth there is no 
danger that our worldly interests ?6'iZ^ 
suffer in consequence of a paramount 
regard to the one thing needful. God 
will take them into his own hand, 
and see that we are no losers by any 
thing done for him. In the present 
instance, we see that his providential 
care was wonderfully exercised to- 
wards his faithful servants. Though 
in the midst of an enemy's country, 
as yet unconquered, yet they passed 
on unharmed, the terror of God hav- 
ing fallen upon the cities round about, 
as when Jacob some ages before had 
passed through this very region on 
his way to Bethel, Gen. 35. 5. The 
way of duty is the way of safety. — 



B, a 145L] 



CHAPTER VIIL 



97 



3 1 As jNIoses the servant of the 
Lord commanded the children 
of Isiael, as it is written in the 
Vbook of the law of Moses, an 
altar of whole stones, over 
w^hich no man hath lifted up 
any iron : and " thej offered 
thereon burnt-offerings unto the 
Lord, and sacrificed peace- 
ofierings. 

32 IT And ""he wrote there 
upon the stones a copy of the 
law of Moses, which he wrote 

t E.Y. 2a 25. De^t. 27. 5, 6. u Ex. 20. 24, 
X Deut. 27. 2,8. 

The ofeject of erecting the altar wa.s 
to oiFer the sacrifices spoken of in the 
next verse. It was a federal trans- 
action in which they were now en- 
gaged. The covenant was now to 
be renewed upon their taking posses- 
sion of the land of promise, and a for- 
mal profession made of their subjec- 
tion to the law, and of iheir depend- 
ence for success in all their enter- 
prises upon the blessing cf the Most 
High, All this it was proper should 
be ratified by sacrificial offerings, 

31. Over which no man hath lifted 
tip any iron. Rather -'had lift up.' 
The writer does not intend to quote 
the precise words of the law. but 
merely to say that Joshua construct- 
ed an altar in accordance with the 
precept of Moses, Ex, 20. 25 ; Deut, 
27. 5', viz,, one over which no man 
had lifted up an iron tool. 

32. Wrote there upon the stones. 
Upon comparing this with the injunc- 
tion, Deut, 27. 2-7, it appears quite 
obvious that in addition to the altar 
they were required also to erect a 
number of stone pillars, and that the 
writing was to be done upon the pil- 
lars, instead of upon the altar, for 

9 



in the presence of the children 
of Israel. 

33 And all Israel and their 
elders, and officers, and their 
judges, stood on this side the 
ark and on that side before the 
priests the Levites, ^ which bare 
the ark of the covenant of the 
Lord, as well ^ the stranger, as 
he that was born among them ; 
half of them over against mount 
Gerizim, and half of them over 
against mount Ebal ; ^ as Moses 



y Deut 3L 9, 25. 
11. 29, and 27, 12. 



z Deut. 31. 12. a Deut, 



which parpose the)^ were previously 

to be plastered over, IT A copy of 

the law^ Heb, n^llH T\TX})2 mishneh 
torah^ a repetition^ a duplicate of the 
loAo. That is, a copy of the bless- 
ings and curses commanded by Mo- 
ses; not a copy of tlie decalogue, as 
some imagine ; nor of the book of 
Deuteronomy, as others think ; much 
less of the whole Pentateuch ; but 
simply that part of the law which 
contained the blessings and curses, 
and which was to be read on this 
solemn occasion. See Note on Deut 
27. a 

33. Before the priests^ the Levites, 
That is, in view of the priests, the 
Levites ; not that the elders, officers, 
and judges stood nearer the ark than 
the priests, but that they so surround- 
ed the ark that the priests who were 
carrying it had a full view of them. 
In like manner it might be said that 
a great crowd in a funeral were be- 
fore the bearers and pall-bearers, if 

they stood full in their view. 

^Over against mount Gerizim and 
over against mount Ebal. For an. 
account of these mountains see on 
Deut. 11. 29, . The two divisions 



98 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



the servant of the Lord had 
commanded before, that they 
should bless the people of Israel. 

34 And afterwaid ^ he read all 
the words of the law, Hhe bless- 
ings and cursings, according to 
all that is written in the book 
of the law. 

35 There was not a word of 
all that Moses commanded, 
which Joshua read not before 
all the congregation of Israel, 
"^with the women, and the little 



b Beut. 31. 11. Neh. 8. 3. c Deut. 28. 2? 
15, 45, and 29. 20, 21, and 30. 19. d Deut. 
31. 12. e ver. 33. 



seem not to have stood upon the sum- 
mit of the mountains, but were ranged 
along their base and some way up 
their sides, that they might be nearer 
the ark, which occupied the valley 
between, and more conveniently hear 

the reading of the law. ^ That 

they should bless the people. And curse 
also, though the last is not expressly 
mentioned ; it is however plainly to 
be inferred, both from the original 
command of Moses, Deut. 27. 13, and 
from the phraseology of the next 
verse. 

34. A7id aftenvard he read. That 
is, he commanded the priests or Le- 
vites to read, as is evident from Deut. 
27. 14. In innumerable instances in 
the Scriptures, a person is said to do 
that which he orders or procures to 

be done. IT The words of the law, 

the blessings and cursings. All the 
sanctions of the law ; from which 
and from v. 35, it would seem that 
much more was read on this occasion 
than was written on the stones. 

35. With the women and little ones. 
It was a word that concerned all, and 
all of all sexes anij ages were p re- 



ones, and Uhe strangers that 
were conversant among them. 

CHAPTER IX. 

AND it came to pass, when 
all the kings which were 
on this side Jordan, in the hills, 
and in the valleys, and in all the 
coasts of ""the great sea over 
against Lebanon, ^the Hittite, 
and the Amorite,the Canaanite, 
the Perizzite, the Hivite, and 
the Jebusite heard thereof ; 
2 That they '' gathered them 

a Numb. 34. 6. b Exod. 3. 17, and 23. 23. 
c Ps. 83. 3, 5. 

sent, giving a solemn and heedful 
attention to what was read. Child- 
ren would be deeply impressed by 
the solemnities of the scene, and a 
salutary fear of offending God Avould 

sink into their tender hearts. IT The 

strangers that were conversant among 
them. Heb. tDDIpn "^inH "I^H hagger 
haliblek bekirbam, the stranger that 
icalked among them. Proselytes. 
No other strangers can well be sup- 
posed to have been present at this 
time. 



CHAPTER IX. 

1. On this side Jordan. The west 
side ; where the children of Israel 
now were, and where the writer was 
at the time of penning this narrative. 
If Heard thereof. That is, of the 



remarkable events which had trans- 
pired since the Israelites had entered 
Canaan ; of the sacking of Jericho 
and Ai, and of their being now as- 
sembled together at Mount Ebal. 

2, They gathered themselves together 
to fight. Entered into a league, 
agreed to form a confederacy. It 
does not appear that they actually 



c. 



!•] 



CHAPTER IX. 



99 



]v?s iogcil.eTj to fight with 
'oiraa an i with Israel, with one 



ccor 



iiuiied their forces at this time, but 
they njw consulted together and 
agreed to do it. Subsequent events, 
liowever, seem to hav^e deranged 
their plans, and pre v^ented a combined 
attack till some lime afterwards. — 
In this conduct we see, as in a glass, 
the strange infatuation of the wicked ! 
Though seeing and feeling that the 
hand of God is unquestionably 
against them, yet, instead of repent- 
ing and humbling themselves before 
him. these devoted kings, who, like 
Ahaz, -'in their distress trespassed 
yet more against the Lord,' madly 
seek by power and policy to counter- 
act and defeat his designs ! ' Thou 
hast stricken them, but they have 
not grieved ; thou hast consumed 
them, but they have refused to receive 
correction ; they have made their 

faces harder than a rock.' M With 

one accord. Jdeb. IPIi^ HS 'p^K ehad, 
iL'itk one mouth ; expressive of their 
entire unanimity in the measure. 
Though of different clans, having 
different interests, and doubtless here- 
tofore often at variance with one 
another, yet they are readv to make 
common cause against the people of 
God, showing that the hatred of the 
righteous is one of the strongest bonds 
of union between wicked men. ' And 
the same day Pilate and Herod were 
made friends together ; for before 
they were at enmity between them- 
selves.' What an admonition to 
Christians to cease from dissension, 
to give up their petty feuds and ani- 
mosities, to sacrifice party interests 
to the public welfare, and cordially 



3 IT And when the inhabitants 

of '^Gibeon Mieard what Joshua 
had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 

d ch. 10. 2. 2 Sam. 21. 1, 2. e ch. 6. 27. 

unite against the common enemies 
of God's kingdom among men. 

3. The inhabitants of Gibeon. Gib- 
eon was a city of the Hivites, proba- 
bly its capital. In the division of the 
land it fell to the tribe of Benjamin, 
and was situated on a hill about six 
miles north of Jerusalem. At the 
present time, a small village called 
Geeb^ occupies the site of the ancient 
city. The inhabitants of this place 
declined entering into the alliance 
offensive and defensive above men- 
tioned. This might have been owing 
to their form of government, which 
left more scope for the good sense of 
the people. Had they had a king, 
of which we nowhere read, he would 
probably have been induced, in the 
pride of his heart, to join the con- 
federacy ; but this city, with the three 
others mentioned v. 17, seem to have 
been governed by elders or senators, 
V. 11, who consulted the common 
safety more than their own personal 
dignity. In this case of the Gibeon- 
ites, we may see a striking instance 
of the different effects produced by 
the same tidings upon different minds. 
The news of the victorious progress 
of Israel excites the several kings to 
resistance, but moves the Gibeonites 
to think of making peace with their 
invaders. In the same manner the 
Gospel message is a savor of life to 
some, and of death to others. Some 
it irritates and provokes to deadly 
and self-destructive opposition, others 
it softens, melts, persuades to surren- 
der, and brings to saving repentance. 
In such a difference Divine sever- 



100 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



4 They did work wilily, and 
went and made as if they had 
been ambassadorSj and took old 

eignty must be acknowledged, though 
the obstinately impenitent are left 
without excuse. 

4. They did work wilily. Heb. 
' they also did work wilily,' i. e. cun- 
ningly, shrewdly, craftily. The term 
' also,' which is omitted in our trans- 
lation, but occurs in the original, 
carries in it a reference to the course 
adopted by the Canaanitish kings. 
They adopted the measures whicli 
seemed to them the wisest and most 
politic, under the circumstances. In 
like manner the Gibeonites also de- 
termined to exercise their ingenuity 
in the present emergency, but they 
had recourse to a subtle stratagem, 
entire.y different from the more open, 
straightforward, but ruinous course 
pursued by their neighbors. As to the 
moral character of this device of the 
Gibeonites, we can only say of it, as 
our Saviour said of the unjust stew- 
ard, 'they acted wisely in their gene- 
ration ;' they did what the common 
maxims of mere worldly prudence 
dictated under the circumstances, and 
yet their fraud and prevarication can- 
not be justified, nor have we any rea- 
son to think they fared so well by em- 
plo3ang it, as they would have done 
without it. A more simple and up- 
right course would undoubtedly have 
secured to them far greater advan- 
tages. Some correct notions of the 
God of Israel they had certainly form- 
ed, V. 9, 10, and these should have 
prompted some other expedient than 
that of lying and deceit. They should 
have followed up the little light they 
had, and inquired into the procuring 
causes of God's severity against 



sacks upon their asses, and 
wine-bottles, old, and rent, and 
bound up ; 



them. They should have acknow- 
ledged that it was their heinous sins 
which were at the bottom of all their 
troubles ; and having humbled them- 
selves in deep repentance, and trust- 
ing to Providence for the issue, should 
have come to the Israelites, and sim- 
ply submitted themselves without op- 
position or fraud, and there is every 
reason to believe they would have been 
spared, as Rahab and her relations 
had been. Lying and hypocrisy al- 
ways defeat themselves in the long 
run ; their success is only temporary, 
while truth and honesty will always 
ultimately redound to the safet}^, 
prosperity, and happiness of those 

who adhere to them. ^ As if they 

had been ambassadors. The root of 
^"^12 tzir, ambassador, properly de- 
notes a hinge ; because an ambassa- 
dor is a person upon whom the busi- 
ness of his embassy iur7is as upon a 
hinge. So the Latin, cardinalis, car- 
dinal, from cardo, a hinge, was the 
title of the prime minister of the em- 
peror Theodosius ; but it is now ap- 
plied only to the Pope's electors and 
counsellors, though the original rea- 
son probably holds with equal force 
here too. They are the hinges upon 
which the vast and complicated in- 
terests of the Papacy turn. See Note 
on the 'lords' and 'princes' (Heb. 
axles) of the Philistines, ch. 13. 3. 
IT Took old sacks. ' Of cou rse they 



profess to do what they would actu- 
ally have done had they really come 
from a distant place. Hence we learn 
that at this time little accommodation 
except that of lodging, if that, was 
expected upon a journey, and that 



B. C. 1451.J 



CHAPTER IX. 



101 



5 And old shoes and clouted 



every one carried provisions and 
drink with him, as at present. This 
rendered necessary their sacks, doubt- 
less fur containing their provisions 
and baggage. All travellers now 
carry sacks with them for such pur- 
poses. If they can afford it, these 
sacks are large, containing a strange 
assoranent of articles — of dress, bed- 
ding, food, and even of puts and pans 
for cooking the necessary meals. 
These are usually carried on ani- 
mals hired for the purpose, or on the 
animal which the servant, if any, 
rides. A poorer traveller reduces 
his baggage to narrower limits, so 
that he wants but small bags, w^hich, 
being thrown over the back of his 
ass or mule, he rides upon himself. 
Those who have but one ass to carry 
themselves and baggage, frequently 
dismount and walk a considerable 
part of the way to relieve their 
beasts. This may account for the 
manner in which the clothes and 
shoes of the Gibeonites were'supposed 
to have been worn out by long tra- 
vel, although they had asses on 
which to ride. The bags which tra- 
vellers use are commonly of stout 
woollen cloth or carpeting, some- 
times strengthened with leather to 
keep out the w^et. Bags of hair cioth 
are also sometimes used for this pur- 
pose, and almost always for carrying 
the corn and chopped straw for the 

cattle.' Pict. Bib. ^ And wine 

bottles, old, Slc. Pretending to have 
come from a very distant country, 
and that their sacks and the skins 
that served them for carrying their 
wine and water were worn out by 
the length of the journey. Sir John 
Chardin informs us that the Arabs, 
9* 



upon their feet, and old gar- 

and all those who lead a wandering 
life, keep their water, milk, and other 
liquors in leathern bottles. They 
keep more fresh in them than in any 
other way. These leathern bottles 
are made of goat skins. When the 
animal is killed they cut off its feet 
and its head, and then draw it out 
of the skin, which is thus left nearly 
whole. They afterwards sew up 
the places where the legs and the tail 
were cut off, and when it is filled 
they tie it about the neck. These 
nations and the country people of 
Persia never go a journey without a 
small leathern bottle of water hang- 
ing by their side like a scrip. These 
bottles are frequently rent, when old 
and much used ; but they are capa- 
ble of being repaired. This they 
do sometimes by putting in a 
piece, sometimes by gathering up the 
wounded place in the manner of a 
parse ; sometimes they put in a round 
flat piece of w.ood, and by these 
means stop the hole. Similar bottles 
are still used in Spain, and are call- 
ed borracKas. See Biirderh Orient. 
Cust., vol. i., p. 54. 

5. Old shoes and clouted. This lat- 
ter epithet, in the time of Shakspeare, 
when applied to shoes, meant such 
as had nails driven into the soles to 
strengthen them. (Cymb., Act IV., 
Sc. 2.) In this sense it may be derived 
from the French word clou, a nail. 
But this does not seem to correspond 
well with the original, which is a deri- 
vative from a root signifying to spot^ 
to patch, to spot with patches. For this 
reason it is supposed by Adam Clarke, 
with much plausibility, to come from 
the old Saxon clut^ a clout, a rag, or 
small piece of cloth^ used for piecing 



102 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



ments upon them ; and all the 
bread of their provision was dry 
and mouldy. 

6 And they went to Joshua 
^unto the camp at Gilgal, and 

or patching. This makes our pre- 
sent version to express very precisely 
the spirit of the original. As their 
shoes or sandals were made of skins 
in those early ages, it -means that 
those they now wore were in a mise- 
rable tattered condition, having been 
often patched,^ pieced^ or mended.- 



IT The bread of their provision was 
dry and mouldy. Heb. ti'^lpU nik- 
Icudim, pricked, i. e. spotted, speckled ; 
bread marked with spots of mould, 
to which the original term is here 
applied. ' The bread commonly used 
in the East is calculated to last only 
for the day on which it is baked ; 
in a day or two more it becomes ex- 
ceedingly hard and unfit for use. 
This common bread could not there- 
fore be that usually employed for 
daily food, for then its dry condition 
would not serve as an indication of 
the length of the journey they had 
taken. It must rather have been a 
sort of bread which will keep a con- 
siderable time, though it does ulti- 
mately become hard and mouldy. 
They have such bread in the East, 
the use of which is almost exclu- 
sively confined to travellers. It is a 
kind of biscuit, usually made in the 
sha])e of large rings, nearly an inch 
thick, and four or five inches in di- 
ameter. The bread is, when new, 
very firm, and rather crisp when 
oroken ; but, not being so well pre- 
pared as our biscuits, it becomes 
gradually harder, and at last mouldy 
rom the moisture which the baking 
nad left in it. In general it is sel- 



said unto him, and to the men 
of Israel, We be come from a 
far country : now therefore 
make ye a league with us. 



fch. 5. 10. 



dom used till previously soaked in 
water. The bread of the Gibeonites 
may have been something of this 
sort. There is another kind of bread, 
which will keep as well, or better. 
This is the thin broad sheet of crisp 
wafer-bread, as thin as wrapping 
paper, the preparation of which has 
been described in the note to Lev. 2. 
4. But this is seldom used for a 
journey, being speedily reduced to 
powder by the action in travelling.' 
Pict. Bib. 

6. And to the meii of Israd. Heb. 
pfi^^ID"' irj^fi^ ish Yisrael, the man or 
manhood of Israel ; collect, sing, for 
plur. Not to the whole body of the 
people, but to the heads, elders, or 
princes of the congregation, v. 15-21, 
who in all important matters acted in 
the name of the rest. In this sense, 
as a term of eminence or dignity, the 
original 1I3^&^ ish, man, is often used. 

^Make ye a league with us. Heb. 

ln^1!i irriiD kirtho berith, cut a cove- 
nant with us ; on which see Notes 
on Gen. 15. 10. The assertion that 
they came from a far country, is 
made as a reason for the Israelites 
complying with their request. From 
V. 24 it appears that they were well 
acquainted with the Divine mandate 
in regard to the destruction of the 
devoted nations, and they may have 
heard of the exception mentioned 
Deut. 20. 15 in favor of the cities 
which were very far off, and which 
were not of the cities of these na- 
tions. Of this exception they in- 
tended to take advantage. 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER IX, 



103 



7 And the men of Israel said 
unto the ^Hivites, Peradventure 
ye dwell among us; and ''how 
shall we make a league with 
you ? 

g cb. 11. 19. h Exod. 23. 32. Deut. 7. 2, 
aiid •^. 16. Judg. 2. 2. 

7. Arid the men of Israel, Heb. 
5i<l"J"> i;"Ji<1 ve-ish Yisrael, and the 
man of Israel ; L e, the elders or 

princes, as above. ^Said unto the 

Hivites. Heb. Mhe Hivite.' This is 
the first intimation of the particular 
nation lo which the Gibeonites be- 
longed. In Josh. 11. 19 it is stated still 

more expressly. % Peradventure 

ye dwell among us. Heb. ^3^;^^ be- 
kirbi^ ' dicell in my midst.^ They 
speak, in the confidenc€ of faith, as 
ii they were already actual possess- 
ors and occupants, old settled inha- 
bitants, of the region which God 

had covenanted to gi\Q them. 

'i^Andhoiu sJuillictmake a league vsith 
you 7 Seeing God has expressly for- 
bidden our forming any such alli- 
ance, Ex. 23. 31 ; 31. ; 34. 12. Deut. 
7. 2. They speak as acting entirely 
according to orders, and as having 
no discretion in the ease ; and by 
putting their answer into the form 
of a question do virtually appeal to 
the consciences, the innate sense of 
right, of these heathen people, for 
the propriety of their conduct in re- 
fusing. A contrary course even the 
Gibeonites themselves knew was not 
even to be thought of. Some duties 
are so obvious that we may unhesi- 
tatingly take it for granted that the 
consciences of the worst of men do 
really side wiih us in regard to them. 

8. We are thy servants. We are 
willing to make any concessions ; do 
but grant our request, and we will 



S And they said unto Joshua, 
'We are thy servants. And 
Joshua said unto them. Who 
are ye ? and from whence come 
ye? 

9 And they said unto him, 

1 Deut. 20. 11. 2 Kings 10. 5. 

submit to any terms you may see fit 
to propose. Fix your own condi- 
tions, even should they require us to 
become your tributaries and bond- 
men for life. They clogged their pur- 
pose with no reservaiions. They 
surrendered themselves uncondition- 
ally to the mercy of Joshua and the 
princes of Israel. Liberty, properly, 
military renown, were all merged in 
the paramount desire for preserva- 
tion from the edge of the sword. 
They did not appeal to the avarice 
of Israel, as the Shechamites and 
Samaritans, in after da3^s, appealed 
to that of Ishmael, the son of Nehe- 
miah, Jer. 41. 8, ' Slay us not, for 
we have treasures in the field, of 
wheat, and of barley, and of oil, 
and of hone}^ ;' but they made an 
unlimited oflering of themselves, and 
of their possessions, to be dealt with 
as Joshua might choose. ' All that 
a man hath will he give for his life.' 
How worthless then should any sa- 
crifice appear, compared Avith the 
life of the soul ! One thing is need- 
ful ; that secured, the rest is of but 

little value. IF Who o.re tje 7 and 

from whence come ye 7 Probably this 
very intimation of such unconditional 
submission tended to excite the sus- 
picions of Joshua, especially as they 
were so backward to name the coun- 
try from whence they came. 

9. Because of the name of the Lord 
thy God. Because of what we have 
heard of that name ; because of the 



104 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. I45I 



•"From a very far country thy 
servants are come, because of 
the name of the Lord thy God : 
for w^e have ^ heard the fame of 
him, and all that he did in 
Egypt, 

10 And '"all that he did to the 
two kings of the Amorites, that 
were beyond Jordan, to Sihon 
king of Heshbon, and to Og 
king of BashaUj, which was. at 
Ashtaroth. 

11 Wherefore our elders, and 

k Deut. 20. 15. 1 Ex. 15. 14. Josh. 2. iO. 
m Num. 21. 24, 33, 

reverence with which it has inspired 
us; and because we are convinced 
Ihat it is above every name. They 
pretend to have been moved mainly 
^Y religious motives in taking this 
journey^ which was in part doubtless 
true, but it was truth mixed with 
both falsehood and hypocrisy. This 
pretence, however, was one well cal- 
culated to prevail with the Israelites, 
for those who are guileless them- 
selves are least suspieion-s of gmle 
in others^ and nothing wins more 
upon the simple-heartedness of good 
men than the appearance of piety 
and devotion where it was little or 

not at all expected. IT All iha.t he 

did in Egypt. They artfully con- 
fine themselves to the mention of 
events that happened a long time 
ago, avoiding any allusion to those 
of more recent occurrence, such as 
the dividing of Jordan and the de- 
struction of Jericho and Ai, as if 
willing to have it believed that they 
lived so far off that the tidings of 
them had not yet reached tlieir ears. 
11. Wherefore mtr ciders, — spake to 
us. Another evidence that they did 
not live under a kingly but a popu- 



all the inhabitants of our coun- 
try spake to us, saying. Take 
victuals with you fof the jour- 
ney, and go to meet them, and 
say unto them. We are your 
servants : therefore now make 
ye a league with us : 

12 This our bread we took hot 
for our provision out of our 
houses on the day we came 
forth to go unto you ; but now, 
behold, it is dry, and it is mouldy: 

13 And these bottles of wine 
which we filled, were new, and 



-IT Go to 



^ar form of government. 
\neet them. Had they deferred till 
the Israelites cams to the gates of 
their cities, it would have been too 
late ; their yielding themselves up 
wo«ld have been of 3qo avail. So 
tiie wajiT to avoid a judgment is to 
meet it by repentance. Sinners should 
imitate the example of these Gibe- 
onites, and while God, who is com- - 
ing to make war against them, Ms 1 
jel a great way off, should send aa 
ambassage aad desire conditions of 
peace.' We have as dear evidence 
of God's determination to destroy 
all the ungodly, as the Gibeonites 
had of his purpose to root out the 
Canaanites. Let us learn then ©f 
these heathens; leain to come to Je- 
sus ere it be too late. Let us not 
stay till besieged by sickness and 
death. Nor let us come covering 
our design with falsehoods, but con- 
fessing the w^hole truth. In the Gld 
and tattered garments of our native 
vileness w^e 7>iay come. Christ, the 
true J«=jhna, will receive ns and 
make wiili us a league of Vfe and 
peace ; but let us come saying at first 
as they did after their inaposture was 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER IX 



105 



behold they be rent : and these 
our garments and our shoes are 
become old by reason of the 
very long journey. 
14 And the men took of their 



discovered, 'Behold, we are in thine 
hand : as it seemeth good and right 
imto ihee to do unto us, do.' 

\L Aiid ike men took of their vie- i 
tuals. Chal. '• And the men assented i 
to their words, and consulted not the i 
oracle of God.' By the ' men' are \ 
meant those who are elsewhere term- ! 
ed the princes of the congregation, | 
V. 18. 19. They took the victuals ' 
into their hands not to eat of them, ! 
but to satisfy themselves of the truth ; 
of their statement. Some suppose : 
the meaning to be that they ate to- . 
gether with the Gibeoniies in token , 
of friendship, as is still common in 
the East, but this is less likely, espe- 
cially as the words may be rendered, 
* they received the men by reason of 

their victuals.' % And asked not 

counsel at the moutJi of the Lord, 
That is, instead of asking as they 
ought to have done at the lips of the 
high priest, v.^hose duty it was to in- 
quire through the medium of the 
Urim and Thummim, Ex. 28. 30; 
Num. 27. 21 ; 1 Sam. 30. 1, 8. It is 
by no means certain, if they had 
sought the Divine direction, that 
they would have been commanded 
to reject the suit of the Gibeonites 
and show them no mercy. The 
probability is, that upon any of the 
devoled nations voluntarily coming 
forward, professing repentance, re- 
■■ I'-n-ing idolatry and embracing 
[ue true reLgion, the Israelites would 
hav^e been authorized by God to spare 
their lives. See on ch. 11, 19. But 



victuals, " and asked not counsel 
at the mouth of the Lord. 
15 And Joshua °made peace 

n Numb. 27. 21. Isai. 30. 1, 2. See Judg. 
1. 1. 1 Sam. 22. 10, and 23. 10, 11, and 30. 
8. 2 Sam. 2. 1, and 5. 19. och. 11. 19. 2 
Sam. 21. 2. 

the circumstance is mentioned here 
as a severe reflection upon the princes 
of Israel for neglect of duty, for 
rashness, credulity, and impolicy. 
They rushed precipitately into an 
alliance which they had no right to 
form without the express sanction of 
Jehovah, and their ' lips became a 
snare to their souls.' In like manner 
how often do men now involve them- 
selves in dangers and difficulties, 
and hedge up their own way with 
troubles, because they ask not coun- 
'sel at the mouth of the Lord. They 
listen with a yielding ear to plausi- 
ble representations, hurry forward in 
their chosen schemes, and enter 
heedlessly into doubtful connexions 
without weighing the consequences. 
But sooner or later we shall iind that 
no business or interest truly prospers 
in which we engage without the 
counsel and approbation of Heaven, 
and with shame and sorrow shall 
seek to him to retrieve the evils 
which our rashness has procured. 
Let it then be engraven upon the tab- 
lets of our hearts, that 7io proposed 
course of conduct can be so clear to a 
Christian as to excuse him from the 
duty of seeking direction from above^ 
15. Joshua, made peace with them, 
&c. Agreed to receive them into 
a friendly connexion with the Isra- 
elites, and to respect their lives and 
property. It has been doubted by 
soixe whether the Israelites were 
bound by an oath that had been ob- 
tained from them by means of a gross 



106 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



with them, and made a league 
with them, to let them live : and 
the princes of the congregation 
sware unto them. 

16 IT And it came to pass at 
the end of three days after they 
had made a league with them, 
that they heard that they were 
their neighbors, and that they 
dwelt among them. 

17 And the children of Israel 
journeyed, and came unto their 

imposition. But it is plain that they 
thought themselves solemnly bound 
by it, and were apprehensive that 
the wrath of God would fall upon 
them if they broke it. That they were 
right in this, and that their adherence 
to their oath was acceptable to God, 
is to be inferred, (1) From his ex- 
pressing no displeasure at the time, 
and from the subsequent tenor of his 
dealings towards them, w-hich was 
kind, and favorable, not implying re- 
buke, nor savoring of disapprobation. 
(2) From the fact that he long after- 
wards severely avenged the wrong 
done by Saul to the Gibeonites in 
violation of this treaty. Let us learn 
from this the binding nature of an 
oath. It lays a bond upon the soul 
from which we cannot be released. 
Even when an oath has been taken 
which it is unlawful to keep, still we 
are not to consider that it is a light 
'matter to dispense with it, or that we 
stand in the sight of God just where 
w^e did before it was taken. We 
have in fact laid upon ourselves a 
load of obligation which he only can 
take off. It is he only who, in view 
of our unfeigned repentance for hav- 
ing taken it, can relieve the con- 
science of the awful burden which 
rests upon it. How much more then 



cities on the third day. Now 
their cities were ^^Gibeon, and 
Chephirah, and Beeroth, and 
Kirjath-jearim. 

18 And the children of Israel 
smote them not, "^ because the 
princes of the congregation had 
sworn unto them by the Lord 
God of Israel. And all the con- 
gregation murmured against the 
princes. 

P ch. 18. 25^ 26, 28. Ezra 2. 25. q Eccles. 
5. 2. Ps. 15. 4. 

ought we to feel the force of those 
compacts and promises which are 
wholly lawful and right ! How 
religiously and scrupulously should 
every promise be performed ! 

16. That they dioelt among them. 
Heb. Ij^pD bekirbo^ dwelt in his 
midst, collect, sing., the very thing 
which Joshua feared, and of which 
he hinted his suspicion; v. 7. ' They 
that suffer themselves to be deceived 
by the wiles of Satan, will soon be 
undeceived to their confusion, and 
will find that to be near, even at the 
door, which they imagined was very 
far off.' Henry. 

17. And the children of Israel jour- 
neyed and came unto their cities^ &c. 
This might better be rendered^ 'For 
when the children of Israel journey- 
ed, they came unto their cities.' Ac- 
cording to the present translation they 
learnt the fraud practised upon them 
some days before they arrived at 
their cities. The contrary suppo- 
sition seems the most probable, and 
we presume the 17th verse is in- 
tended to inform us how they became 
possessed of the information men 
tioned in the 16th. 

18. The congregation murmured. 
Principally, no doubt, because they 
were deprived of the spoils of the 



B. C. 14510 



CHAPTER XL 



107 



19 But all the princes said 
unto all the congregatiorij We 
have sworn unto tiieni by the 
Lord God of Israel : now there- 
fore we may not touch them. 

20 1 his we will do to them ; 
we will ev^en let them livej lest 

Gibeonites. Tiiough they did sub- 
mit to the restraints laid upon them 
by this league, yet it was with an ill 
s^race; they were vexed to have their 
hands thus lied by their rulers, and 
venied their disafleciion in the most 
unequivocal manner. Some of them, 
however, might have honestly re- 
sented what they deemed a flagrant 
breach of the Divine commandment. - 
There is often, nay generally, more 
conscience and principle among the 
L-ommon class of the people, than 
imong those placed in authority over 
hem, although this rem.ark is not to 
DC construed to the disparagement 
)f Joshua. 

19. We have sworn unto them, 
Z]\d,\. 'We have sworn to them by 
he Word of the Lord.' They plead 
leither the lawfulness nor the pru- 
lence of the oath, but only its obli- 
gation when taken. Although they 
lad been dec-eived in the business, 
ind the covenant had been made on 
I suppo.-^idon which was afterwards 
)roved to be false, yet having sicorn 
nj Jehovah, they did not feel at li- 
)erty to break their compact. It has 
)een suggested that Joshua might 
lave taken advantage of their own 
vords to annul the treaty, and said 
o them, ' Ye are come, according to 
^our own statement, from a far 
country ; but these cities are near at 
land ; thei?- inhabitants therefore are 
lot the people with whom w^e have 
covenanted, and ye have nothing to do 



"■ wrath he upon us, because of 
the oath which v/e sware unto 
them. 
21 And the princes said unto 
them, Let them live ; but let 
them be 'hewers of wood, and 

r See 2 Sam 21. 1, 2, 6. Ezek. 17. 13, 15, 
18, 19. Zech. 5. 3, 4. Mai, 3. 5. . Deut. --9. 11- 

to interfere with or prevent their de- 
struction.' But he would not resort 
to any shifts or quibbles to elude the 
oath. Like the good man of the 
Psalmist, though he had sworn to 
his own hurt, he would not change. 
Having made a solemn compact, he 
would abide by it at all events. If 
he had now broken his covenant the 
whole people of Canaan wc-uld have 
represented him as a violator of his 
engagements ; it w^as therefore better 
to fulfil his agreement, however hasty 
and ill-advised, than by departing 
from it to give occasion to the ene- 
mies of God to blaspheme. His an- 
swer takes it for granted that the 
sentiments of the people accorded 
with his own as to the solemn obli- 
gations now resting upon them. — ^ 
^Mo.f not touch them. May not hurt 
or injure them. For this sense of 
the word see Gen. 26. 11 ; Ruth 2. 9 ; 
Job 1. 11 ; Ps. 105. 15 ; Zech. 2. 8. 
Chal. ' May not give them damage.' 

IT We will even let them live. 

Chal. ' We will make them to sur- 
vive.' 

21. And the princes said unto them. 
Rather ' said coiicerning them,' as the 
original for 'unto' often signifies. 
See on Gen. 20. 2. — yiLet thembehew- 
ers of wood and drawers of water. Let 
them be taken at their w^ord, v. 8, and 
made public servants, to be employ- 
ed in the most menial offices and 
drudgeries which the service of the 
sanctuary might require. The ex 



108 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



drawers of water unto all the 
congregation ; as the princes 
had \promised them. 

22 IF And Joshua called for 
them, and he spake unto them, 

t vcr. 15. 

pression is proverbial for the low- 
est and most servile employments of 
whatever kind, as appears from De^t. 
29. 10, 11, where Moses thus recites 
the order of the different classes of 
the people, ' Ye stand this day all of 
you before the Lord your God ; your 
captains of your tribes, your elders, 
and your officers, with all the men 
of Isx^ael, your little ones, your 
wives, and thy stranger that is in 
thy camp, from the hewer of thy Avood, 

unto the drawer of thy water.' 

^ Unio oil the congregation. To all 
the congregation considered as one 
great worshipping body, whose reli- 
gious rites were concentrated at one 
place, and not to all the several fami- 
lies in their private capacity, as re- 
siding in their tents. They were to 
be made public and not private ser- 
vants. '^According as the princes 

had promised them. Rather, Heb. 
^ had purposed, ordained, fixed upon 
concerning them ;' that is, in a previ- 
ous consultation. The whole verse, 
however, as it stands in the original, 
is exceedingly intricate, and com- 
Jnentators are very much divided as 
to its true construction. It would 
seem from the next verse that no- 
thing had as yet been said directly 
to the Gibeonites. 

22. Wherefore have ye beguiled us ? 
The mode of their treatment having 
been previously resolved upon in a 
council of the elders or princes of 
the nation, Joshua now summons 
Ihem into his presence and acqiiSaints 



saying, Wherefore have ye be- 
guiled us, saying, "We are very 
far from you ; when "" ye dwell 
? 

Now therefore ye 



among us 



23 



an 



y vf?. 6. ^. X \ei. 16. 



them with the result. ' He does not 
load them with ill names, does not 
give them any harsh, provoking lan- 
guage, does not call them, as they de- 
served to be called, base liars, bat 
only asks them, '• Why have ye ber- 
guiled us '?" Under the greatest pro- 
vocations it is our wisdom and duty 
to keep oiar temper and to bridle cur 
passion ; a just cause needs not an- 
ger to defend it, and a bad one is 
made never the better by it.' Henry. 
23. Noiu therefore ye are cursed. 
Ye shall be subjected to a severe ca- 
lamity. Ye shall pay a bitter pen-* 
ally for your deception. Ye shall 
subject yourselves and your children J 
to the curse of a degrading bondage, 
and thereby shall the ancient denun- 
ciation against your ancestor be ful- 
filled ; — ' Cursed be Canaan, a ser- 
vant of servants shall he be.' Had 
they dealt fairly and ingenuously 
with Israel, their lives would no 
doubt have been spared on more fa- 
vorable and honorable terms. As it 
was, however, it cannot be doubted 
that their punishment was overruled 
aiid turned to a signal blessing to 
them. They were hereby brought 
into a situation where they would na- 
turally acquire the knowledge of the 
true God and of his revealed will, 
were made to dwell in the courts of 
the Lord's house, were honored with 
near access to him in the services of 
the sanctuary, and thus placed in cir- 
cumstances eminently favorable to 
their spilritual and eternal interests-. 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER IX. 



109 



^cursed, and there shall none of 
you be freed from being bond- 
men, and 'hewers of wood and 
drawers of water for the house 
of my God. 

24 And they answered Joshua, 
and said, Because it v/as cer- 
tainly told thy servants, how 
that the Lord thy God ""com- 

y Gen. 9. 25. z ver. 21. 27. a Exod. 23. 
32. Deut. 7. 1, 2 

If Dav^id could say. ' I had rather be 
a door-keeper in the house of my 
God, than to dwell in the tents of 
wickedness,' surely these poor be- 
nighted heathen rnay well have es- 
teemed their lot a blessing, hard and 
toilsome and hu mble as it was. They 
are supposed to have been afterwards 
called Nethinim^ i. e. persons given, 
dedicated, consecrated to the service 
of the sanctuary and the assistance 
of the Leviies. See r. 27 ; 1 Chron. 
9- 2. — ^ir There shall none of you be 
freed, frovi being bondmen, Heb. 
HwSJ t:r?2 rn^"" S^i lo yikkareth mik- 
keni bbed, there shall not be cut off 
from you a servant ; i, e. the line of 
servitude shall be kept up; a sen- 
tence by which the bondage imposed 
tipon them should be entailed upon 
their posterity, Mr. Harmer under- 
takes to show from Shaw and other 
travellers, that these were the em- 
ployments of females in the East, and 
that consequently the bitterness of 
their doom consisted not so much in 
being subjected to a laborious ser- 
vice,- as in being degraded from the 
characteristic emplo3'ments of men 
to those of women. There may be 
some force in this remark as applied 
to domestic civil life, but here the 
case is different ; it is certain that 
these menial services, if they had not 
10 



manded his servant Moses to 
give you all the land, and to de- 
stroy all the inhabitants of the 
land from before you, therefore 
^ we were sore afraid of our lives 
because of you, and have done 
this thing 

25 And now, behold, we are. 
•^in thine hand: as it seemeth 

b Exod. 15. 14, c Gen. 16. 6. 



been performed by the Gibeonites, 
would have dev^olved upon the Isra- 
elites, and that too upon the men, and 
not the women of the congregationj 
for only males were employed about 

the sanctuary. IT For the house of 

my God. Chal. ' For the sanctuary 
of my God,' spoken primarily of the 
tabernacle, which was at that time 
the seat of worship, but with an ulte- 
rior reference to the temple which 
should be afterwards erected. 

24. And they ansv:ered, &c. The 
words in which they make reply are 
well weighed. It is a delicate and 
very cogent appeal to the human- 
ity and pietj of Israel. They offer 
the best excuse for themselves which 
their conduct would admit. They 
attempt not to justify their prevarica- 
tion, but in effect beg pardon for it ; 
pleading that it was purely to save 
their lives that they had recourse to 
it. No one w^ho feels the force of 
the law of self-preservation but must 
make great allowances for them, es- 
pecially as they were not prompted 
by the fear of man, but of God him- 
self, whom nothing can resist. 

25. We arc in thine hand. Chal. 
' We are delivered into thine hand.' 
In ihvpower, at thy di-posal, laving 
nothing more to say for ourselves. 
% As it seemeth good and right 



no 



JOSHUA/ 



[B. C. i451. 



good and right unto thee to do 
unto us, do. 

26 And so did he unto them, 
and dehvered them out of the 
hand of the children of Israel^ 
that they slew them not. 

27 And Joshua made them 
that day "^hewers of wood and 
drawers of water for the con- 

d ver. 21, 23 

"iinto thee — do. Whatever justice and 
mercy dictate to thee to do unto us, 
that perform. They expect juslicf. 
because they deceived the Israeliles ; 
yet they hope for mercy because they 
^vere driven to this expedient for fear 
of losing their lives. This willing 
submission of the Gibeoniies may be 
improved by us. They accounted it 
no great matter to cede their cities, 
and to spend their days in servitude, 
seeing God had spared their lives. 
And shall we think much of .sacri- 
ficing any temporal interests, or of 
performing any self-denying duties, 
when we have reason to think that 
God has spared the life of our souls '? 
If we look for mercy &t the hands 
of Jesus, all that we have and are 
must be the Lord's. We must be 
willing to be anything and do any- 
thing that he appoints for us. 

26. And so did he unto them. That 
is, he dealt with them according to 
justice and mercy ; he delivered 
them out of the hands of the people, 
who would fain have slain them, and 
yet he doomed them to servitude as 
a just retribution for their offence. 

26. And Joshua made them, &c, 
Heb. dDD"^ yittenam, gave them, 
whence the epithet U'^lD'^riD 7iethinira, 
given, Lat. dediti or deodati, applied 
to them Ezra 2. 43, 58 ; 8. 20; Neh. 
3. 26. See on v. 21. If In the place 



gregation and for the altar of the 
Lord, even unto this day, *in 



the place 
choose. 



which he should 



CHAPTER X. 

NOW it came to pass, when 
Adoni-zedek king of Jeru- 
salem had heard how Joshua 

e Deut. 12. 5. 



which he should choose. That is, the 
place which he should choose for his 
sanctuary, whether it were the taber- 
nacle or temple ; for here were their 
services more especially, though not 
exclusively, to be bestowed. They 
were not to keep possession of their 
cities, for we afterwards find that 
three of them fell to the lot of Ben- 
jamin, and one to that of Judah ; 
nor were they to be at their own dis- 
posal, but were most of them proba- 
bly dispersed through the cities of 
the priests and LeviteSj and came up 
with them in their courses to serve at 
the altar, out of the revenues of which 
they were doubtless maintained. 



CHAPTER X. 

1. Adoni-zedek. This name, sig* 
nifying lord of righteousness, is very 
nearly akin to that of Melchizedek, 
king of righteousness, who reigned 
at the same place upwards of 400 
years before. He might have been 
a descendant as well as successor of 
this distinguished personage, or the 
name, in one form or the other, may 
have been common, like Phacaoh in 
Egypt, or Abimelech in Gerar, to the 
royal line. How the epithet right- 
eous came to be connected with the 
title of the kings of this remarkable 
city it is not possible now to deter- 
mine. Viewed in connexion with 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



Ill 



had taken Ai, and had utterly 
destroyed it ; ''' as he had done 
to Jericho and her king, so he 
had done to ^Ai and her king; 

a ch. 6. 21. b ch. 8. 22, 26^ 28. 

its subsequent history^ it must be re- 
garded as not a little remarkable , 
though from the case of this individ- 
ual it does not appear to have been 
always a true index of the character 
of him who bore it. ^H King of Je- 
rusalem. The name Jerusalem here 
occurs for the first time in the scrip- 
tures. The original designation of 
the city seems to have been Salem, 
Gen. 14. 18 ; Ps. 76. 2, as it was called 
in the time of Melchizedek, though 
whether he w^ere its founder is alto- 
gether unceriain. It was afterwards 
called D'^i^Tn"! Yerushalayim, Jeru- 
salem, a name supposed to be com- 
pounded of li^'^"' yiru (from ns^'l 
raah, to see), and GilZ? shalam, peace, 
and signifying vision of peace, or 
more literally, they shall see peace, in 
prophetic allusion to the gospel of 
peace, which was afterwards to issue 
from thence. Reland, Schultens and 
others, it is true, derive it from IDTT^ 
yeriisk and &il23 shalam, possession of 
peace, but we prefer the former, and 
are not unwilling to believe, with 
Masius, that the name carries in it a 
latent reference to the incident men- 
tioned, and the words employed Gen. 
22. 14, 'And Abraham called the 
name of that place Jehovah-jireh : as 
it is said to this day, In the mount of 
the Lord it shall be seen.' The He- 
brew n^'l'^ yireh or jireh^ seems to 
have been affixed to the ancient de- 
nomination Salem, and thus to have 
formed the word Jerusalem, mysti- 
cally pointing to the vision of peace 



and "^ how the inhabitants of 
Gibeon had made peace with 
Israel, and were among them ; 
2 That they '^feared greatly, 

c ch, 9. 15. cl Exod. 15. 14, 15, 16. Deut. 
11. 25. 



which Abraham saw in the future 
sacrifice that was to be oifered up in 
the latter day on that same memora- 
ble mount or in its immediate vicini- 
ty. Morlah, one of the mountains 
of Jerusalem, signifying vision of 
God, is derived from the same root, 
and was probably so called for the 
same reason. After coming into the 
possession of the Jebasites, it was 
occasionally called Jebus, Josh. 18. 
28; Judg. 19. 10, 11, from the inha- 
bitants, but it seems never to have 
been familiarly known by that appel- 
lation among the Israelites. It is 
probable that the city retained in the 
main the name of Salem, which it 
had in the days of Abraham, till the 
Israelites came into the land of Ca- 
naan, and that it was called Jerusa- 
lem by them when they first look pos- 
session of it. Consequently it is so 
called by anticipation in this place. 
It was doubtless overruled in provi- 
dence that a name should be bestow- 
ed on the place pre-intimating the 
nature of the glorious events by which 
it was afterwards to be distinguished. 
% Had utterly destroyed. Heb. 



n^D'^in'^ ya'Itarimah, had made a 

curse, had devoted.'' IT Were among 

them. Had made alliance with them, 
had come over to their interest, had 
put themselves under their protec- 
tion, and so were entitled henceforth 
to dw^ell together with them in the 
country without being exterminated 
or disturbed. 
2. That they feared greatly. He 



11:2 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



because Gibeon was a great 
city, as one of the royal cities, 
and because it was greater than 
Ai, and all the men thereof were 
mighty. 

3 Wherefore Adoni-zedek king 
of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham 
king of Hebron, and unto Piram 
king of Jarmuth, and unto Ja- 

and his people ; from which it ap- 
pears that under the term ' king ' in 
the preceding- verse we are to under- 
stand al^o the people whom he re- 
presented. Tf As one of the royal 

cities. Heb. n:Di)2>2n '^^^ tr^^'D 
kea^kath arai hamniamlakah^ as one 
of the cities of the kingdom. Not that 
it was actually a royal city, the seat 
of a king, but it was like one, being 
a capital city and having others 
subordinate to it, ch. 9. 7. Chal. 
' As one of the ciliesof the kingdoms.' 
It was great, well inhabited, and well 
fortiiied, after the manner of those 
cities which served for royal resi- 
dences. But they were undoubtedly 
a small but powerful republic, gov- 
erned by elders, as we hear nothing 
here or elsewhere of their having a 
king. See on ch. 9. 3. 

3. Wherefore Adoni-zedek sent. 
Because he was most exposed to dan- 
ger, Jerusalem being only six miles 
from Gibeon, and midway between 
that and the camp at Gilgal, and be- 
cause also he might have possessed 
some degree of precedency over the 
other kings mentioned. 

4. That loe may smite Gibeon 
That is, the Gil)eonites. It is very 
conceivable that Adoni-zedek and 
his associates may have been glad of 
a plausible pre:ext for attacking the 
Gibeonites, as their more liberal form 
of government was a standing re- 



phia king of Lachish, and unto 
Debir king of Eglon, saying, 

4 Come up unto me, and help 
me, that we may smile Gibeon : 
^for it hath made peace with 
Joshua and with the children of 
Israel. 

5 Therefore the five kings of 

e ver. 1. ch. 9. 15. 



bukeof the despotism that prev^ailed 
among themselves. But {\iQh avoic- 
ed motive undoubtedly was to punish 
the citizens of Gibeon for making- 
peace with Joshua, as if they had 
thereby acted the part of traitors to 
the country and greatly strengthened 
the common enemy. In this incident 
we see what usually lakes place when 
any of the enemies of Christ submit 
themselves to him. Their former 
friends and companions consider 
them as deserters from their stand- 
ard, and are often bitterly exasperat- 
ed against them, ' He that deparieth 
from evil maketh himself a prey.' 
Or if their opposition does not amount 
to actual enmity, it will at least show 
itself in a way of contempt and ridi- 
cule. Satan too is indignant at los- 
ing one of his vassals ; and not only 
stimulates his subjects to commence 
hostilities against them, but labors by 
all possible wiles and devices to bring 
them back again to their former bond- 
age. There is the same enmity ex- 
isting against the cau.se of Christ now 
as ever. Earth and hell will still 
combine against his Church, and 
every one that enters into covenant 
with him will, like the Gibeonites, 
have a powerful confederacy to con- 
tend widi. 

5. The five kings of the A'taoriics. 
The name of this people is often ta- 
ken in a large sense for that of the 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



113 



the Amorites, the king of Jeru- 
salem, the ♦king of Hebron, the 
king of Jarmuth, the king of 
Lachish, the king of Eglon, 
^gathered themselves together, 
and went up, they and ajl their 

f ch. 9. 2. 

Canaaniies generally, or any one of 
them, doubtless from their being the 
i^ost powerful of the distinct tribes 
that inhabited the country. Strictly 
vSpeaking, the people of Hebron were 
Hittites, ch. 11. 19, and those of Je- 1 
rusalem, Jebusites, ch. 15. 63; and 
in one place, 2 Sam. 21. 2, the Gibe- 
onites themselves, though generally 
termed Hivites, are said to be ^ of 
the remnant of the Amorites.' The 
probability is, that the Am.orites, be- 
ing a numerous and powerful peo- 
ple in the Moabitish territory, sent 
out colonies to these several places, 
which, having subdued the original 
inhabitants, communicated their own 
name very extensively over the coun- 
try. IF Made war against it. Put 

themselves in a warlike attitude, 
made ready for an assault, were on 
the eve of attacking them. 

6. Sentttnio Joshua. They trusted 
to the compassion, the nobleness, the 
generosity, if not the justice of their 
new ally. They doubled not that he 
would consider himself bound in 
honor and conscience to succor and 
defend them, although it may not 
have been expressly stipulated for in 
the articles of the treaty. It w^as 
because of their confidence in Is- 
rael and their having thrown them- 
selves entirely upon their protection 
that they were now marked out as 
objects of the vengeance of their en- 
emies, and to whom should they go 

10* 



hosts, and encamped before 
Gibeon, and made v^ar against it. 
6 IT And the men of Gibeon 
sent unto Joshua ^ to the camp 
to Gilgal, saying. Slack not thy 
hand from thy servants j come 
up to us quickly, and save us, 

jT ch. 5. 10, and 9. 6. 

in their extremity but to these their 
natural defenders'? So %hen the 
powers of darkness, like mighty Am- 
orites, assail the children of God, to 
whom shall they betake themselves 
but to Christ, their true Joshua'? It 
is when we are encompassed with 
evils that we feel the value of that 
covenant into which we have entered 
with him. If we attempt to resist 
our enemies in our own strength, we 
shall infallibly be vanquished; but 
if we betake ourselves to the Captain 
of our salvation by fervent prayer, 

we cannot but succeed. ^ Slack 

not thy hand from thy servants. Do 
not leave them to the fate which 
threatens them, put forth vigorous 
efforts for their deliverance, relax not 
the hold which thou hast by cove- 
nant taken of them. Happy the men 
of Gibeon, that in this awful mo- 
ment, this very crisis of their fate, 
they had an interest in Joshua and 
the armies of Israel ! Happy every 
trembling suppliant at the throne ot 
mercy, if he be interested by faith in 
the Almighty Joshua, who hath the 
armies of the living God at his com- 
mand ! Could a heathen say, when 
a bird pursued by a hawk flew into 
his bosom, ' I will not surrender thee 
to thine enemy, as thou hast come to 
me for sanctuary'?' Shall not the 
Saviour then be an unfailing refuge 
to those who fly to him in their ex- 
tremity '? See on ch . 1 . 5. "[T Thai 



114 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451, 



and help us : for all the kings 
of the Amorites that dwell in 
the mountains are gathered to- 
gether against us. 

7 So Joshua ascended from 
Gilgal, he, and ^ all the people 
of war with him, and all the 
mighty men of valor. 

h ch. 8. 1. 

• ^ 

dwell ill the mountains. Heb. inn 
'^^iu}"^ yoshebe hdhar^ dzcellers or in- 
habitants of the mo%intai7i ; i. e. of 
the mountainous regions. The allu- 
sion is to the tract lying to the south- 
west of Jerusalem called ' the hill 
country,' Luke 1. 39, 05, in which 
were situated the four cities men- 
tioned above, v. 3. 

7. And all the mighty men of f alar . 
Rather, ' even all the mighty men of 
valor ;' so the panicle translated 
' and ' is used in hundreds of in- 
stances, and it is not easy to suppose 
that ' all the people of war,' and ' all 
the mighty men of valor,' constituted 
two separate portions of the host. 
The meaning is simply that he went 
up with an army of picked men, 
men of approved valor and tried 
skill, to defend the Gibeonites, their 
new allies, against their invaders. 
A sufficient force would of course 
be left to guard the camp at Gilgal. 
Instead of taking any advantage of 
the mere letter of their compact, and 
saying that they never promised to 
run the hazard of their own lives to 
save theirs, he nobly acts on its spi- 
rit, and resolves that they shall be 
no losers by the confidence they 
have reposed in him; that they shall 
not suffer by any calamity which he 
can avert. ' To a good mind the 
strongest obligation is another's trust; 
and even permission in those things 



8 IT And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, ' Fear them 'not : for I 
have delivered them into thine 
hand; ''there shall not a man 
of them stand before thee. 

9 Joshua therefore came unto 
them suddenly, and went up 
from Gilgal all night. 

i ch. 11. 6. Judff. 4. 14. k ch. i. 5. 



we may remedy, makes us no less 
actors, than consent. We are guilty 
of all the evil we might have hin- 
dered.' Bp. Hall. 

8. A7id the Lord said unto Joshua. 
More correctly ' for the Lord had 
said ;' as we cannot suppose that 
Joshua undertook this expedition be- 
fore he had sought counsel of God, 
and received the encourcgement con- 
tained in the ensuing words. With- 
out some such encouragement as 
this, Joshua might have thought that 
this formidable hostvras sent against 
him and his new allies as a judg- 
ment upon him for negotiating an 
unlawful treaty. The verse properly 

falls into a parenthesis. ^ I hare 

delivered them into thy hand. The 
usual form of speech to express the 
absolute certainty of a future event. 

9. Went up from Gilgal all night. 
The distance from Gilgal to Gibeon 
was about twenty-six miles. By a 
Ibrced march this distance might 
have been accomplished in one night; 
but the words do not necessarily re- 
strict us to this period of time. They 
imply only that he travelled all night, 
to which, if we please, we may add, 
part of the preceding or of the follow- 
ing day. The clause quoted reads 
somewhat awkwardly as it now 
stands, from its seeming to put the 
march after the arrival. By omit- 
ting the word ' and,' which does not 



I 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



116 



10 And the LopxD 'discomfited 
them before Israel, and sle\v 
them ^vith a great slaughter at 
Gibeon, and chased them along 
the way that goeth up ""to Beth- 
horon, and smote them to " Aze- 
kah, and unto Makkedah. 

1 Judg. 4. 15, 1 Sam. 7. 10, 12. Ps. 18. 14. 
Isai.28. 21. '» ch. 16. 3, 5. « ch. 15 35. 

occur in the original, and inclosing 
the remainder in a parenthesis (; he 
had gone up from Gilgal all night,') 
every thing is made plain. Though 
he had received the positive assur- 
ance of a victory, yet he neglects 
no prudent means of effecting it, and 
therefore adopting a military strata- 
gem, comes upon them by surprise. 
* God's promises are not intended to 
slacken or supersede, but to quicken 
and encourage our own endeavors.' 
Henry. 

10. The Lord discomfited them. 
Or, Heb. "QlltV^ yehummem, struck 
with dismay, confounded. It is the 
word employed Ex. 23. 27, in describ- 
ing the effect that should be produced 
by Divine power upon the enemies 
of Israel, though there rendered less 
accurately ' destroy.' It occurs also 



Ps. 144. 6 ; 2 Chron. 15. 6.- 



reat slaughter 



^And 
Or. 



slew them with a ^ 
'- he slew them,' i. e. Israel slew them. 
In consequence of the panic into 
which the Lord had thrown them, 
his people were enabled to effect a 
great slaughter. The di rect work of 
God on the occasion appears to be 

described, v. 11. IT At Gibeon. 

Heb. ^iS^'n^D begibun, in Gibeon ; not 
in the city, but in the adjoining terri- 
tory or domain called by the same 
name, as Joshua is said, ch. 5. 13, to 
be in Jericho, when he was merely 
in the immediate vicinity. ^Beth- 



1 1 And it came to pass as they 
fled from before Israel, and were 
in the going down to Beth- 
horon, * that the Lord cast down 
great stones from heaven upon 
them unto Azekah, and they 



Ps. 18. 13, 14, and 77, 17. Is^ai. 30. 30. 
Rev. 16. 21. 



horon. The tribe of Ephraim con- 
tained two places of this name, the 
upper and lower. The latter is here 
probably referred to, which lay twelve 
or fifteen miles to the north-west of 
Jerusalem, and where Dr. Clarke 
says there is now an Arab village 
called Belhoor, or as Prof. Robinson 

writes it Beit ' Ur. ^Azekah. A 

city of Judah, situated about twelve 
miles west from Jerusalem. Euse- 
bius and Jerome inform us that there 
was a town in their time about this 
place named Ezeca, which was pro- 
bably the same with the ancient Aze- 
kah here mentioned. On referring 
to the map it will be seen that the 
conquered kings fled to the north- 
west of Gibeon, while the residue of 
their army wheeled off more south- 
erly, flying towards Azekah. 

IT Makkedah. This place was also 
in the tribe of Judah, about fourteen 
miles southwest of Jerusalem. 

11. The Lord cast down great stones 
from heaven upon them. That is, 
hail-stones of an extraordinary size, 
and capable of doing dreadful exe- 
cution in their fall from heaven. 
Some have indeed contended that 
stones, in the common acceptation of 
the word, or rather meteoric stones, 
are intended, and that such stones 
have actually fallen from the clouds 
or from a greater height is an incon- 
testible fact. But there is no good 



116 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



died : they were more which died 
with hailstones than they whom 

reason to suppose that any such phe- 
nomenon is alluded to here, for it is 
immediate^ added, as if to preclude 
any ground of mistake, that ' they 
were more which died Avith hailstones 
than they whom the children of Is- 
rael slew with the sword.' The 
Sept. in both places translates it by 
\iOoi ')(aXa^ri£^ hailstones ; Josephus 
calls it ' a violent tempest of hail- 
stones of prodigious size;' and the 
author of Ecclesiasticus, eh. 46. 6, 
thus speaks of the event : ' With hail- 
stones of mighty power he made the 
battle to fall violently upon the na- 
tions, and in the descent of Beth-horon 
he destroyed them that resisted.' That 
God has, on other occasions, made 
use of hailstones to destroy both men 
and cattle, is clear from the instance 
of the plague of hail in Egypt, Ex. 9. 
18, and in the predictions of Ezekiel 
against Gog, ch. 33. 22^ the Most 
High is introduced as threatening 
that ' he v/ould plead against him 
with pestilence, and with blood, with 
an overflowing rain, and great hail- 
stones, fire and brimstone.' God him- 
self, moreover, speaks to Job, ch. 38. 
22, 23, of treasures or magazines of 
snow and hail, which he has reserv- 
ed for the day of battle and war. But 
although w^e have no doubt that a 
shower of hailstones is here intend- 
ed, yet we are equally convinced 
that this shower, though natural in 
itself, Avas supernaturally employed 
on this occasion. They probably 
far exceeded the usual size, and it 
certainly indicates a miraculous in- 
terposition of Providence that they 
should have fallen at the very crisis 
when God promised to assist his peo- 



the children of Israel slew wdth 
the sword 



pie against their enemies, and that 
while in falling they slew multitudes 
of the fugitive CanaaniLes, they 
should not have harmed one of their 
pursuers! The following account 
of a similar phenomenon happening 
in our own times is gi-aphically de- 
scribed by one of our own country- 
men, w^ho was something more than 
an eye-witness of its effects. The 
letter is dated Constantinople, Aug., 
1831. ' We had got perhaps a mile 
and a half on our way, when a 
cloud rising in the west, gave indi- 
cations of an approaching rain. In 
a few minutes we discovered some- 
thing falling from the heavens with 
a heavy splash, and of a whitish ap- 
pearance. I could not conceive what 
it was, but observing some gulls near, 
I supposed it to be them darting for 
fish ; but soon after discovered that 
they were large balls of ice falling. 
Immediately we heard a sound like 
rumbling thunder, or ten thousand 
carriages rolling furiously over the 
pavement. The Avhole Bosphorus 
was in a foam, as though heaven's 
artillery had been discharged upon 
us and our frail machine. Our fate 
seemed inevitable ; our umbrellas 
were raised to protect us ; the lumps 
of ice stripped them into ribands. 
We fortunately had a bullock's hide 
in the boat, under which we crawled 
and saved ourselves from farther in- 
jury. One man, of the three oars- 
men, had his hand literally smashed ; 
another much injured in the shoul- 
der; Mr. H. received a severe blow 
in the leg; my right hand was some- 
what disabled, and all more or less 
injured. A smaller kaick accom- 



B. G. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



117 



12 ^ Then spake Joshua to 

panied wiih my two servants. They 
were both disabled, and are now in 
bed with their wounds; the kaick 
was terribly bruised. It was the 
most awful and terrific scene that I 
ever wimessed^ and God forbid that 
I should be ever exposed to such an- 
other. Balls of ice as large as my 
two fists fell into the boat, and some 
of them came with such violence as 
certainly to have broken an arm or 
leg had they struck us in those parts. 
One of them struck the blade of an 
oar and split it. The scene lasted, 
perhaps, five minutes ; but it was five 
minutes of the most awful feeling 
that I ever experienced. When it 
passed over, we found the surround- 
ing hills covered with masses of ice, 
I cannot call it hail; the trees strip- 
ped of their leaves and limbs, and 
everything looking desolate. We 
proceeded on our course, however, 
and arrived at our destination, 
drenched and awe-struck. Up to 
this hour, late in the afternoon, I 
have not recovered my composure ; 
my nerv^es are so affected as scarcel}' 
to be able to hold my pen, or commu- 
nicate my ideas. The scene was 
awful beyond all description. I have 
witnessed repeated earthquakes ; the 
lightning has played, as it were, 
about my head ; the wind roared, and 
the waves have at one moment thrown 
me to the sky, and the next have sunk 
me into a deep abyss. I have been 
in action, and seen death and de- 
struction around me in every shape 
of horror ; but I never before had the 
feeling of awe which seized upon me 
on this occasion, and still haunts, and 
I feel will ever haunt me. I return- 
ed to the beautiful viilage of Btiyuc- 



the Lord in the day when the ■ 

dure. The sun w^as out in all its 
splendor, at a distance all looked 
smiling and charming, but a nearer 
approach discovered roofs covered 
with workmen repairing the broken 
tiles, desolated vineyards, and shat- 
tered windows. My porter, the bold- 
est of my family, who had ventured 
an instant from the door, had been 
knocked down by a hailstone, and had 
they not dragged him in by the heels, 
would have been battered to death. 
Of a flock of geese in front of our 
house, six were killed, and the rest 
dreadfully mangled. Two boatmen 
were killed in the upper part of the 
village, and I have heard of broken 
bones in abundance. Many of the 
thick brick tiles, with which my roof 
is covered, are smashed to atoms, 
and my house was inundated by the 
rain that succeeded this visitation. It 
is impossible to convey an idea of 
what it was. Imagine to yourself, 
however, the heavens suddenh^ froz- 
en over, and as suddenly br«ken to 
pieces in irregular masses, of from 
half a pound to a pound weight, and 
precipitated to the earth. My own 
servants weighed several pieces of 
three-quarters of a pound ; and many 
were found by others of upwards of 
a pound. There were many which 
fell around the boat in which I was, 
that appeared to me to be as large as 
the swell of a large -sized water de- 
canter. You may think this ro- 
mance. I refer to the bearer of this 
letter, who was with me, and wit- 
nessed the scene, for the truth of 
every word it contains.' Covi. Por- 
ter^s Letters from Constantinople and 
its Environs^ Vol. i. p. 44. 
13. Then spake Joshua to the Lord, 



118 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



* Lord delivered up the Amorites 
before the children of Israel, and 



That is, before, in the presence of, 
having a reference to. Chal. ' Then 
declared Joshua before the Lord.' 
There is nothing said of a direct 
address to Jehovah, though Ave can- 
not doubt that such an one was made 
on the occasion, but the address here 
mentioned was to the sun and moon. 
The phraseology in the original is 
not that which is usually employed 
to intimate a direct address whether 
in prayer or otherwise from one per- 
son to another. Instead of mrT^ ii^ 
to Jehovah^ it is nin"^i properly im- 
porting before Jehovah^ or in reference 
to him. It is a similar mode of ex- 
pression to that employed by Paul, 
1 Cor. 14. 2, ' He that speaketh in an 
unknown tongue speaketh not unto 
men but unto Godi i. e. not directly 
to God, but so that God understands 
him, God takes cognizance of what 
he says. 2 Cor. 5. 13, ' For whether 
we be beside ourselves it is to God^^ 
i. e. in reference to God, he is the 
ultimate object of it. So here 
Joshua's speaking was not directly 
to God, but there was a unison be- 
tween his .spirit and the spirit of God 
in his speaking, and he had all along 
a believing reference to God. See on 
V. 14. Seeing the day far spent, 
Joshua feared that he might not have 
time to complete the victory which 
he had so auspiciously begun, and 
being suddenly prompted from above, 
and inspired with Divine confidence, 
he commanded, in the name of Je- 
hovah, the occurrence of a stupen- 



dous miracle in order (o prolong the 
day till the destruction of his ene- 
mies was completely effected. 



he said in the sight of Israel, 
PSun, stand thou still upon 

P Isai. 28. 21. Hab. 3. 11. 



IT He said in the sight of Israel, Sun, 
stand thou still, &c. Or, Heb. * he 
said. In the sight of Israel, Sun, be 
thou silent in Gibeon.' 1 he verb in 
the original ^trn dom) generally ren- 
dered cease, rest, be still, keep silence, 
properly implies cessation from action 
or noise, rather than from motion, 
and is perhaps most frequently used 
metaphorically to signify a silent, 
submissive frame of spirit, a subdued, 
patient, expectant attitude of soul, 
like that of the Psalmist when he 
says, Ps. 62. 1, using this very Avord, 
' Truly my soul waiteth upon (Heb. 
rr^^^ll dummiyah, is silent to) God.' 
See also Sam. 14. 9 ; Ps. 4. 4 ; 37. 7 ; 
Is. 23. 2. It is usually spoken of an 
intelligent agent, and as the import 
of the Heb. word for sun, is servant, 
or minister, it is used with great pro- 
priety here as expressive of the com- 
mand of a master to a servant tc 
pause, to rest, in his routine of ser- 
vice, and to assume a still, quiet, 
patient posture, indicative of the most 
entire subjection, and as if waiting 
for further orders. Such is the gen- 
uine force of the original, which 
cannot perhaps be fully expressed in 
any version.— The phrase ' in Gibe- 
on,' means in this connexion over 
Gibeon, implying that Joshua looked 
off to a distance and saw the sun 
apparently standing over the city or 
cities of Gibeon. — As to the nature 
of the miracle itself, on which much 
has been written, it may be remarked, 
(1) That the scriptures generally 
speak in popular, and not in scientifc 
language ; that they describe the 
things of the natural world, not ac- 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



119 



Gibeon, and thou Moon, in the 
valley of ^Ajalon. 

q Judg. 12. 12. 

cording to strict philosophic truth, 
but according to appearance and 
common apprehension. Thus they 
speak of the sun's riHng and setting, 
of the ends of the earth, of passing 
from one end of heaven to another, 
&c. Indeed, it was only in this way 
that Joshua could have conveyed any 
clear idea to the people of what he 
intended to express by the command. 
Had he uttered the words, ' Earth, 
stand ihou still upon thine axis ;' 
they would have thought him abso- 
lutely distracted. He spake there- 
fore in the common popular style 
adopted by philosophers themselves 
in ordinary discourse, and every one 
can see that this was obviously the 
proper mode. Nor can any one ob- 
jecc to this diction in the sacred 
writers without virtually entering his 
protest against the every-day lan- 
guage of all enlightened countries on 
the earth. Whether, therefore, the 
sun or the globe be supposed to have 
been arrested in its career on this 
occasion, is immaterial to the truth 
of the narrativ^e, as the appearance, 
in each ca^e, would be the same, and 
it is the appeara7ic£, and not the re- 
ality, which is described. (2) Of the 
precise mode in ivhich the miracle 
took place, two solutions may be 
given, though it must necessarily 
ever be impossible to determine posi- 
tively which of them is the true one. 
The effect may have been owing to 
the actual cessation of the earth's mo- 
tion round its axis. This, however, 
without an equally miraculous in- 
terference of the Almighty, would 
have produced the most tremendous 



13. An3 the sun stood still, and% 
the moon stayed, until the peo- 



effects, not only upon the globe itself 
but perhaps upon the entire solar sys- 
tem, and the equilibrium of the whole 
material universe. But the m.ore 
probable explanation in our opinion 
is, that the phenomenon related was 
merely optical; that the rotatory 
motion of the earth was not disturb- 
ed ; but that instead of this the light 
of the sun and moon was supernatu- 
rally prolonged by the operation of 
the same laws of refraction and re- 
flection that ordinarily cause the sun 
to appear above the horizon when he 
is in reality belovj it. He who creat- 
ed the heavenly luminaries, and es- 
tablished the laws which regulate 
the transmission of light, may at this 
time have so influenced the medium 
through which the sun's rays passed, 
as to render his disk still visible long 
after the time when in ordinary cir-*' 
cumstances it would have disappear- 
ed. This would of course have had 
all the visible effect of actually bring- 
ing the earth to a pause in its revo- 
lution round its axis, and as this an- 
swers all the demands of the text, we 
are not solicitous to seek any more 
satisfactory solution of the difliculty. 

IT Thou moon in the valley of Aja- 

lon. That is, over the valley of Aja- 
lon. A city of Benjamin in the near 
neighborhood of Gibeon, so near, in 
fact, that what is here termed the 
valley of Ajalon, seems, in Is. 28. 24, 
in allusion to this event, to be called 
the valley of Gibeon. Junius and 
Tremellius, for the most part ex- 
tremely judicious commentator^, un- 
derstand the import of the command 
to be, that the sun should stay itself 



120 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451. 



^ pie had avenged themselves ] Jasher ? So the sun stood stili 
upon their enemies. 'Is not \ in the midst of heaven, and 
this written in the book of hasted not to go down about a 
r 2 Sam. 1. 18. whole day. 



from settirtg over Gibeon, and the 
moon from rising or advancing over 
Ajalon, because the appearance of 
the moon is the signal for the coming 
on of night, which Joshua would now 
have to be delayed. Certain it is, 
that the light of the moon, even when 
seen, is of very little service while 
the sun is above the horizon, and as 
we suppose the sun itself to have 
been at this time near the horizon, 
we take this command to the moon 
to be introduced merely as a poetic 
ornament to make out the parallel- 
ism so common to the poetical style 
of the Hebrews. It is in fact doubt- 
ful whether the whole passage be not 
a quotation from the book of Jasher 
mentioned below, and whether that 
book were not a collection of nation- 
al songs or lyric poems composed in 
praise of Joshua and other distin- 
guished heroes and champions of 
Israel. 

13. Written in the book of Jasher. 
Or, Heb. ^TD^n ^i£D sepher hayashar^ 
the hook of the upright ; i. e., per- 
haps, of eminently good and upright 
men, men distinguished at once for 
moral worth and military prowess. 
As this book is generally supposed 
to have long since perished, though 
affirmed by some of the Jews to be 
still in existence, it is impossible to 
determine with certainty what it was. 
Mention of it occurs again 2 Sam. 
1. 18,where David's lamentation over 
Saul is said to be extracted from it. 
It was probably a collection of po- 
ems, or national ballads, celebrating 
the chief events of the wars of Israel 



and the praises of their most distin- 
guished heroes. If In the r>iidst of 

heaven. Heb. D"^?3'I)n ^"2:12 bahatzt 
hashshamaijim^ in the division^ or t^€ 
half of the heavens ; i. e. above the 
horizon, where the upper is divid(»d 
from the lower hemisphere of hea- 
ven. Some have supposed it to mean 
the same as ' in the meridian of hea- 
ven,' but at that hour of the day how 
could the moon be visible, or how 
did Joshua know but he should have 
ample time, before sunset, to com- 
plete the victory ? The other view 
is, therefore, we think, to be prefer- 
red. ^Hasted not to go down about 

a luhole daij. Heb. ' hasted not to go 
down t'^^ori DI^'lD keyovi tamim, as at 
the perfect day ; i. e. as it naturally 
does when the day is finished, when 
the ordinary space of a day has 
elapsed. This we conceive to be the 
true force of the original, though 
aware that it requires one to be ac- 
quainted with the Hebrew^ in order 
to feel the force of the evidence in 
favor of such a rendering. Such an 
one, however, upon turning to the 
original of Ex. 31. 18; Deut. 16. 6; 
24. 13 ; Ps. 73. 19, will find, if we 
mistake not, ample proof of the cor- .|j 
rectness of this interpretation. The ^ 
meaning, as we understand it, is not 
that the day was miraculously length- 
ened out to the exlen:*of twelve hours, 
or another whole day, but simply 
that when the ordinary duration of a 
day was completed, the sim still de- 
layed his setting, but for how long 
a time we are not informed: long 
enough, however, we may presume, 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X, 



121 



14 And there was ' no day like 
that before it or after it, that the 
Lord hearkened unto the voice 
of a man : for ^ the Lord fought 
for Israel. 

for fully accomplishing the object 
for which the miracle was granted. 

14. That the Lord hearkened unto 
the voice of a man. Chal, ' That the 
prayer of man should be heard be- 
fore the Lord.' That is, for such a 
purpose. Not that this was the first 
time that the prayers of a mortal had 
power with God, for those of Moses 
had often prevailed with him, bai he 
had never before hearkened to the 
voice of man to alter so signally the 
eoLirse of nature, or to grant such an 
illustrious display of his power in 
behalf of his people. At the voice 
of a man, the sun that rules the day 
was stopped, as he descended, and 
the moon that governs the night, as 
she arose in the east. These eyes of 
the lower world, which were proba- 
bly the gods whom the Amorites 
worshipped, were compelled, as it 
were, to stand still and look dov\-n 
upon their mistaken idolaters, who 
might cry to them for life and deli- 
verance. The passage imports that 
the command of Joshua was in effect, 
though not in form, a prayer to Je- 
hovah for the performance of the 
miracle. In like manner that which 
seems to have been uttered by Elijah, 
1 Kings 17. 1, as a prophecy, is spo- 
ken of by James, ch. 5. 17, as a 
prayer. Probably no miracles w^ere 
wTought by the ancient prophets or 
servants of God but in connexion 
with the most fervent ' in -wrought' 
prayer. It is only by earnest prayer 
that we take hold of the strength of 
God.-^ — IT For the Lord fought for 
11 



15 ^ "And Joshua returned, 
and all Israel with him, unto the 
camp to Gilgal. 

s See Isai. 38. 8. t Deut. 1. 30. ver. 42, 
and ch. 23. 3. u ver. 43. 



Israel. Chal. ' For the Lord fought 
by his Word.' This seems to be 
added as if in answer to the natural 
inquiry, ' Why was such a miracle 
wrought on this occasion '? To what 
was it owing that Israel was so fa- 
vored V Because, says the WTiter, 
the Lord fought for them. He was 
engaged on their side ; and it was in 
consequence of his purpose and his 
promise to befriend them, v. 8, 12, that 
he graciously heard the prayer of 
Joshua. 

15. And Joshua returned to GilgaL 
The occurrence of this verse in this 
place has occasioned great perplex- 
ity to commentators. As it is verba- 
tim the same as the last verse of this 
chapter, and is wanting in some of 
the ancient versions, many have 
thought that it was inserted here by 
the error of some transcriber, and 
that the only way to obtain a correct 
view of the thread of the narrative is 
to neglect it altogether. It cannot, 
it is said, be supposed that Joshua 
should have broken off in the mid-ca- 
reer of his victory, and just after the 
above-mentioned miracle marched 
his army twenty or thirty miles to 
Gilgal, and then have immediately 
returned again to the scene of action 
to complete the work of conquest. 
What could be the object of such a 
strange diversion of his forces at 
such a crisis ? But we are inclined 
to consider it as inserted here mere- 
ly by anticipation. The waiter's 
drift is apparently to close the gene- 
ral account of the engagement de- 



122 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1451 



16 But these five kings fled, 
and hid themselves in a cave at 
Makkedah. 

17 And it was told Joshua, 
saying, The five kings are found 
hid in a cave at Makkedah, 

IS And Joshua said, Roll 
great stones upon the mouth of 

scribed above by saying that when it 
was ended Joshua and the Israelites 
returned to the camp ; not, however, 
that this took place immediately; 
there were some additional incidents 
that occurred prior to that return, 
which are too important to be over- 
looked in the history, and which he 
here takes occasion to relate. This 
he does in the ensuing- verses, 16- 
42, after which he inserts again , in 
its proper place, the account of 
Joshua's return to the camp. The 
repetition of the w^ords at the end of 
the chapter seems designed to cor- 
rect the misapprehension that might 
arise, on reading them in their first 
connexion, as to the precise time to 
which they refer. This we regard 
as a safer solution of the difficulty 
than to suppose an error in the copy- 
ist, which in this instance seems to 
us improbable. It is not, however, 
10 be disguised, that the entire con- 
text, V. 11-15, has very much the 
air of a supplementary insertion, as 
it evidently breaks the continuity of 
the narrative, which requires v.- 16 
to come in immediate connexion 
with V. 11, and is marked by a higher 
and somewhat poetical style of ex- 
pression. If such a conjecture may 
be admitted, it will perhaps account 
for the occurrence of v. 15 in this 
connexion. The author may have 
seen fit to append to his inserted mat- 
ter an intimation of what Joshua did 



the cave, and set men by it for 
to keep them : 

19 And stay ye not, but pur- 
sue after your enemies, ai.d 
smite the hindmost of them ^ 
suffer them not to enter into 
their cities : for the Lord your 



after the miracle, and for this pur* 
pose have taken the 15th v, from th« 
ensuing narrative. 

16. In a cave at Makkedah. Heb. 
XV\p)2'2. bemakkedaJi. in Makkedah ; 
that is, in the vicinity of Makkedah, 
in the region adjoining the city, not 
in the city itself. See v/hat is said 
above of the phrase 'in Jericho,' ch. 
5. 13, and 'in Gibeon,' ch. 10. 10. 
Compare too with this what is said 
Am. 9. 2-4, of the vain attempts of 
God's enemies to ccnccal themselves 
from his presence. 

18. Set men by it. Heb. ^l^^pSH 
D^^^Di^ H^iS? haphkidu aleha ana- 
shim, give men charge over it. 

19. Smite the Jdndmost of them. 
Heb. DDDDT zinnabtem, cut off the 
tail, as the rear-guard of an army is 
called. The Vulg. of Jerome ren- 
ders it, ' cut off the last of the fugi- 
tives.' Arab., ' Clip off their hind- 
most.' The original term occurs 
only once elsewhere, Deut. 25. 18. 
' Servants, dependants, or courtiers, 
in the East, slIw ays follow their supe- 
riors. Should one of them cease to 
serve or follow his master or patron, 
having gained his end, another on 
seeing this, asks, " Where is your 
tail 1"—'' The tail has been long in 
my way, I have cut it off." ' Roberts. 

IF Suffer them not to enter into 

their cities. Heb. ' Give them not to 
come to their cities.' Where they 
w^ould recover strength and renew 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



123 



God hath deHvered them into rest which remained of them en 



your hand. 
20 And it came to pass, when 



tered into fenced cities, 
21 And all the people returned 



Joshua and the children of Israel j to the camp to Joshua at Mak- 
had made an end of slaying them kedah in peace: ""none moved 
with a very great slaughter, till 
they were consumed, that the 



the war. It seems, however, from 
the next verse, that a few stragglers 
succeeded in getting refuge in these 
defenced cities, but they were soon 
followed thither and destroyed. 

20. Wh^n Joshua and the children 
of Israel. &.c. That is, Joshua % the 
children of Israel, by their agency. 
It is evident from v. 21 that Joshua 
did not accompany them in person, 
but awaited their return at Mak ke- 
dah. It is, however, entirely accord- 
ing to scripture analogy to speak of 
that as done by a commander, which 
was done by the soldiers under his 
authority and control. The phrase 
may also be rendered. ' Joshua, even 
(he children of Israel.' 

21. All the people retwrncd to the 
camp at Makkedah. That is, the 
whole detachment which Joshua had 
sent out to scour the country and cut 
off the remaining straggling Canaan- 
ites. Probably a temporary encamp- 
ment had been formed here for the 
accommodation of the army after the 
victory, in consequence of the kings 
being imprisoned in a cave near it. 

^ In peace. Safe and sound. See 

Gen. 28, 21 ; Judg. 8, 9, Vulg. ' Un- 
hurt and in the same number.' 

^No'ne moved his tongite. That is, 
none of the Canaanites ; or, as the 
verb has no nominative, we may un- 
aerstand ' dog,' from Ex. 11. 7; im- 
plying that their victory was so com- 
plete, that not even a dog dared to 



his tongue against any of the 
children of Israel. 

X Exod. 11. 7. 



against them. Comp. Judith 



bark 

11. 13. They were struck dumb 
with astonishment ; they were so 
^ utterly confounded by the display of 
I supernatural power put forth in be- 
I half of Israel, that they presumed not 
: to breathe a whisper of insult or re- 
j proach. As the Israelites marched 
in triumph through their towns and 
i villages, so far from venturing to lift 
I a hand against them, they did not even 
! open their lips. It is a proverbial 
j expression, intimating a freedom from 
i any kind of insult or molestation, 
i ' When a person speaks of the fear 
to which his enemy is reduced, he 
says, " Ah ! he dares not now to shake 
his tongue against me." " He hurt 
you ! the fellow will not shake his 
tongue against you." ' Roberts, See 
a similar mode of speech Ex. 11, 7, 
The Chal. renders it, ' There was no 
hurt or loss to Israel, for which any 
man should afflict his soul.' Whether 
or no this be the sense of the words, 
such was no doubt the fact. When 
the army came to be reviewed after 
the battle, there was none slain, non« 
wounded, none missing, not one Isra- 
elite had occasion to lament the loss 
of a friend or the loss of a limb. 
The original is very express Xh^Xnot 
one single Israelite was harmed either 
by word or weapon. So complete, 
so superhuman, so glorious was the 
victory. Such a consummation fitly 
shadows forth the glorious end of that 



124 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



22 Then said Joshua, Open 
the mouth of the cave, and 
bring out those five kings unto 
me out of the cave. 

23 And they did so, and 
brought forth those five kings 
unto him out of the cave, the 
king of Jerusalem, the king of 
Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, 
the king of Lachish, and the 
king of Eglon. 

24 And it came to pass, when 

warfare in which, as soldiers of Jesus 
Christ, we profess to be engaged. 
When the last enemy shall be de- 
stroyed, the last alarm hushed, the 
last victory gained, and all the ran- 
somed of the Most High shall come 
to the camp of their Almighty Leader, 
in final peace and rest, all the envy, 
the opposition, the hatred, the malice 
that was cherished against the Sa- 
viour and the saints, will have be- 
come extinguished for ever. ' The 
ransomed of the Lord shall return, 
and come to Zion with songs, and 
everlasting joy upon their heads ; 
and sorrow and sighing shall flee 
away.' 

22. Then said Joshua, Open the 
mouth of the cave, &c. Rosen miiller, 
after Usher, suggests that this was 
probably done the next day after the 
defeat of the confederated kings ; but 
although it is clear that a vast 
amount of action was compressed 
into the space of a single day, yet we 
are not to forget that the day was mira- 
culously lengthened by the special in- 
terposition of the Most High. 

24. All the men of Israel. Heb. 
i^nc^ ir'^;^ i^ l^ol ish Yisrael, all the 
man, or manhood of Israel, i. e. all 
the men of war, the flower and prime 



they brought out those kings 
unto Joshua, that Joshua called 
for all the men of Israel, and 
said unto the captains of the 
men of war which went with 
him, Come near, ^ put your feet 
upon the necks of these kings. 
And they came near, and put 
their feet upon the necks of 
them. 
25 And Joshua said unto them, 

y Ps. 107. 40, and 110. 5, and 149. 8, 9 
Isai. 26. 5, 6. Mai. 4. 3. 



of the army by whom the recent vic- 
tory had been obtained. We have 
already remarked, in the notes on 
ch. 9. 6, that the term ' men ' is often 
used in a peculiarly emphatic sense, 
to denote the chief me ji, or the princes 
of the congregation. A passage 
strikingly confirmative of this usage 
occurs Deut. 29. 10, ' Ye stand this 
day all of you before the Lord your 
God ; your captains of 3'our tribes, 
your elders and your officers, {with) 
all the men of Israel.' Here the 
'with/ as indicated by the Italics, is 
not found in the original, and the 
sense undoubtedly is, * even all the 
men of Israel,' making the clause to 
stand simply in opposition with what 

goes before. IF Put your feet upon 

the necks of these kings. Not as a 
personal insult to the kings, but sym- 
bolically, in token no.t only of the pre- 
sent complete victory, but of the ab- 
solute subjection to which all their 
adversaries would finally be reduced, 
as Joshua himself explains it in the 
next verse. ' This in the East is a 
favorite way of triumphing over a 
fallen foe. When people are disput- 
ing, should one be a little pressed, 
and the other begin to triumph, the 
former will say, " I will tread upon 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X. 



125 



*Fear not, nor be dismayed, be 
strong and of good courage : for 
•^ thus shall the Lord do to all 
your enemies against whom ye 
iight. 

26 And afterwards Joshua 
smote them, and slew them, and 
hanged them on five trees : and 
they ^were hanging upon the 
trees until the evening. 

27 And it came to pass at the 

z Deut. 31. 6, 8. ch. 1. 9. a Deut. 3. 21, 
and 7. 19. ^ ch. 8. 29. 

thy neck, and after that beat thee." 
A low caste man insulting one who 
is high, is sure to hear some one say 
to the offended individual^ 'Put your 
feet on his neck.'^ ' Roberts. In like 
manner, ice are also taught to regard 
our victories past as pledges of fu- 
ture and greater conquests. — The 
severity enjoined towards the van- 
quished kings, though abhorrent to 
our humane feelings, was right, be- 
cause it was commanded, Deut. 20. 
18, 17, and it was important that in 
doing the Lord's work the Israelites 
should be taught the lesson elsewhere 
inculcated by the prophet, Jer. 4. 8 ; 
' Cursed be he that doeth the Lord's 
work deceitfully, and cursed be he 
that keepeth back his sword from 
blood.' The act here mentioned was 
in fulfilment of the prediction, Deut. 
33. 29, ' Thou shalt tread upon their 
high placeSj^* on which see Note. 

26. Hanged them on fixe trees^ &c. 
Chal. ' On five crosses.' See on ch. 
8.29. 

27. At the time of the going down 
of the sun. Whether this was on the 
evening of the day so miraculously 
lengthened out, or of the following, 
has been doubted by commentators. 
But if the fact of the preternatural 

11* 



time of the going down of the 
sun, that Joshua commanded, 
and they "^took them down off 
the trees, and cast them into the 
cave wherein they had been hid, 
and laid great stones in the 
cave's mouth, ichich remain un- 
til this very day. 
28 IT And that day Joshua took 
Makkedah, and smote it with 
the edge of the sword, and the 

c Deut. 21. 23. ch. 8. 29. 



extension of the day be admitted, 
we can see no objection to this 

view. IT Cast them into the cave, 

' That which they thought would 
have been their shelter, was made 
their prison first, and then their grave. 
So shall we be disappointed in that 
w^hich wx flee to from God ; yet to 
good people the grave issiill "a hid- 
ing-place," Job 14. 3.' Henry. 

Laid great stones in the cavers mouth. 
Mainly, we presume, for the same 
reason that a similar monument was 
raised over the place where Achan 
was stoned and burnt, ch. 7. 26, to 
perpetuate the memory of the event 
in c<^nexion with the disgrace and 
ignominy of the culprits who suffer- 
ed there. Masius remarks, without 
specifying his authority, that ' those 
who have visited this region say, that 
the cave is still shown in a hill near 
Makkedah, its mouth being closed 
by a w^all, to preserve it as a monu- 
ment.' 

28. That day Joshua took Makke- 
do,h. The same day on which the 
kings were hung, and which we have 
already remarked was probably the 
day subsequent to that on which the 
sun stood still. Yet it is possible that 
the sense may be, that oJbout that time 



126 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1451 



king thereof he utterly destroy- 
ed, them, and all the souls that 
were therein ; he let none re- 
main : and he did to the king 
of Makkedah '^as he did unto 
the king of Jericho. 

29 Then Joshua passed from 
Makkedah, and all Israel with 
him, unto Libnah, and fought 
against Libnah : 

30 And the Lord delivered it 
also, and the king thereof, into 
the hand of Israel : and he smoie 
it with the edge of the sw^ord, 
and all the souls that were there- 
in : he let none remain in it ; 

d ch. 6. 21. 

— not on the identical day — he took 
the city of Makkedah. It might have 

been a day or two later. IF The 

king thereof he utterly destroyed. Heb. 
t'^^nn he^harim, devoted, made a 

curse. ^ All the souls. Heb. 

^'&D i^ kolnephesh, all the soul. That 
is, all the people, men., women, and 
children; for it would appear from 
ch. n. 14, that the cattle and spoils 

were given to the conquerors. 

IT As he did unto the king of Jericho. 
How he had dealt with this king we 
are not expressly informed. Proba- 
bly he had been first slain, and then 
hanged np, as was the king of Ai 
and the five kings here mentioned. 

^9. And all Israel unth him. That 
is, all of Israel that had been engaged 
with him in this late expedition. 

U Unto Libnah. A city in the 

tribe of Judah near its western bor- 
der, not far from Makkedah, about 
twelve miles west or south-west from 
Jerusalem. It was afterwards given 
to the priests, ch. 21. 13. Even its 
ruins have now disappeared. 

31. Unto Lachish. Situated a few 



but did unto the king thereof 
as he did unto the king of Jeri- 
cho. 

31 H'And Joshua passed from 
Libnah, and all Israel with him, 
unto Lachish, and encamped 
against it, and fought against it : 

32 And the Lord delivered 
Lachish into the hand of Israel, 
which took it on the second day, 
and smote it with the edge of 
the sword, and all the souls that 
were therein, according to all 
that he had done to Libnah. 

33 TT Then Horam king of 
Gezer came up to help Lachish ; 
and Joshua smote him and his 



miles directly south of Libnah, near 
the western limits of Judah. It was 
probably a strongly fortified place, as 
Joshua could not take it till the se- 
cond day, and Sennacherib after- 
wards was obliged to ' raise the siege.' 
2 Kings, 19. 8 ; Is. 37. 8. Nothing 
is here said of the king of Lachish, 
as he was one of the five who had 
been executed before. 

33. Horam king of Gezer. There 
was a city of this name in the tribe 
of Ephraim twenty miles southwest 
of Jerusalem, ck 16. 3, 10 ; Judges 
1. 19. But this seems too remote 
from the scene of action. The prob- 
ability is, that it was some place in 
the tribe of Judah but little distant 
from Lachish, the king of which 
either as an ally of the king of La- 
chish, or for his own security, offered 
to aid in resisting the further pro- 
gress of Joshua. ' Thus wicked men 
are often snared in their counsels, 
and, by opposing God in the way of 
his judgments, bring them sooner 
upon their own heads.' Henry. 

34. Unto Eglon, Another citv of 



B. C. 1451.] 



CHAPTER X, 



127 



people, until he had left hhn 
none remainino-. 

34 IT Aud from Lachish Joshua 
passed unto Eglon, and all Israel 
with him : and they encamped 
against it, and foug'ht against it : 

35 And they took it on that 
day, and smote it with the edge 
of the sword, and all the souls 
that were therein he utterly de- 
stroyed that day, according to 
ail that he had done to Lachish, 

3Q And Joshua went up from 

Jndah. near to Lachish, and fifteen 
miles from Jerusalem, See Map. 

35. Took it on that day^ The same 
day on which they encamped against 
it. 

36j 37< Uiiia Hebron — and the king 
thereof. Probably a successor to him 
who had been slain and hanged be- 
fore, V. 23, 26. The rank which this 
ciiy evidently held among its sister 
ciiies doubtless made it important 
that, in such a crisis as the present, 
a new head should be immediately 
appointed. — Though now taken, the 
city of Hebron seems afterwards to 
have fallen back into the hands of 
the Canaaniles, which made it ne- 
cessary for Caleb to take it a second 
time as related, ch. 15. 14; Judges 1. 
10. The case appears to have been 
the same in regard to some other of 
the places captured on this occasion. 
Judges 1. 11-13. The reason of it 
was, that Joshua, in his rapid con- 
quests, contented himself with tak- 
ing, demolishing, and burning those 
cities, but did not garrison any of 
them for fear of weakening his army. 
The scattered Canaanites in several 
instances no doubt took advantage of 
IhiSj returned, repeopledj and put in 



Eglon, and all Israel with him, 
unto ''Hebron ; and thev fouo-ht 
against it : 

37 And they took it, and smote 
it with the edge of the sword, 
and the king thereof, and all the 
cities thereof, and all the souls 
that were therein ; he left none 
remaining, according to all that 
he had done to Eglon, but de- 
stroyed it utterly, and all the 
souls that v:ere therein. 

38 IT And Joshua returned, 

e See ch. 14. 13, and 15. 1-3. Judg. 1. 10. 



a state of defence, the cities from 
which they had been expelled. Hence 
the Israelites were obliged to conquer 
them a secoEid time. So the Christian 
in his spiritual warfare finds it as 
much as he can do to keep possession 
of the ground which he has once 
gained. His old enemies are inces- 
santly returning upon him. His bat- 
tles must be fought and his victories 
achieved anew. The lusts which 
appeared to be slain, are ev^r and 
anon giving signs that they still live; 
and are intent upon regaining their 
former ascendency. This makes it 
dangerous to remit our activity for a 
single hour. Constant vigilance is 
the grand condition of final triumph. 
^All the cities thereof. The cities 



subject to its jurisdiction and depen- 
dant upon it; so that Hebron was 
properly speaking a metropolis, i. e. 
a mother city. Such too was Gibeon, 
spoken of above, v. 2; ch. 9. 17. 

38. AtiA Joshua returned. That is, 
turned his course, began to march in 
a new direction. It is not implied 
that he had been at Debir before; 
but that having now advanced to the 
southwest as far as he thought fit, 
even as far as Gaza, v. 41, he turned 



128 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1453 



and all Israel with him, to ^De- 
bir ; and fought against it : 

39 And he took it, and the 
king thereof, and all the cities 
thereof, and they smote them 
with the edge of the sword, and 
utterly destroyed all the souls 
that were therein : he left none 
remaining : as he had done to 
Hebron, so he did to Debir, and 
to the king thereof ; as he had 

f See ch. 16. 15. Judg. 1, 11. 

and directed his course towards Gil- 
gal, lying to the northeast, and fell 
upon Debir on his way. This city 
was in the tribe of Judah, about thirty 
miles southwest of Jerusalem and 
'.en miles west of Hebron. It was 
also called Kirjath-Sepher, ch. 15. 15, 
and Kirjath-Sannah, ch. 15. 19, per- 
haps from its being one of ibe seats 
of learning among the Canaanites; 
the name Kirjath-Sepher signifying 
the city of books or of Utters. The 
Canaanites having subsequently re- 
taken it, Caleb, to whom it fell by 
lot, gave his daughter Ai^hsah in 
marriage to Othniel for his bravery 
In having carried it by storm, ch. 15. 
16. It was afterwards given to the 
priests, ch. 21. 15, but no trace of it 
is to be found at the present time. 

40. Smote all the country of the 
hills. Overrun as a conqueror, sub- 
dued and took possession of all the 
southern section of Canaan, familiar- 
ly known by the appellation of ^tin 
Hahar^ i. e. the hill-country , which 
subsequently fell to the lot of Judah. 
Of this mountainous region Burck- 
hardt says, the whole country be- 
tween Tekoa and Hebron is finer 
and better cultivated than in the 
neighborhood of Jerusalem ; while 
She sides ol the hills^ instead of being 



done also to Libnah, and to her 
king. 

40 IT So Joshua smote all the 
country of the hills, and of the 
south, and of the vale, and of 
the springs, and all their kings : 
he left none remaining, but 
utterly destroyed all that breath- 
ed, as the Lord God of Israel 
^commanded. 

gDeut.20. 16,17 

naked and dreary, are richly studded 
with the oak, the arbutus, the Scotch 
fir, and a variety of flowering shrubs. 
Of the hitherto unknown tract south 
of Hebron, Bankes, Leigh, Irby and 
Mangles inform us that three days 
to the south of Hebron, they passed 
towards the Dead Sea through a 
country well cultivated, but extreme- 
ly uninleresling : eight or nine miles 
beyond Kerek they found themselves 
on the borders of an extensive desert, 
entirely abandoned to the wandering 
Bedouins. A tribe of Jellaheen Arabs 
here told them, that in years of scar- 
city they were accustomed to retire 
into Egypt. The same necessity 
compelled Jacob to the same expedi- 
ent : and the custom seems handed 
down from the patriarchs. See Rus- 

selVs Palestine. '^ Of the South. 

That is, of Canaan. The southern 
part of the tribe of Judah and Idu- 
mea was designated by the general 

term, the south. Gen. 20. L \\Of 

the vale. Heb. ni&t;n hashsheph'elah 
the Imo country^ i. e. the lev?l cham- 
paign •n the Mediterranean Sea, ex- 
tending from Joppa to the borders of 
Egypt. Deut. 1. 7j Judg. 1. 9; Jer. 

17. 26.- 5r The springs. Heb. 

nmiTJj^n haashdoth^ the descents, i. e, 
probably the slopes or declivities erf 



B. C. 1450.] 



CHAPTER XI. 



129 



41 And Joshua smote them 
from Kadesh-barnea even unto 
^Gaza, 'and all the country of 
Goshen, even unto Gibeon. 

42 And all these kings and 
their land did Joshua take at 
one time ; "^ because the Lord 
God of Israel fought for Israel. 

43 And Joshua returned^ and 

h Gen. 10. 19. i ch. 11. 16. k ver. 14. 



mountains, tracts formed by the wash- 
ing down of the mountains, and so 
capable of cultivation. See Num. 

21. 15 ; Deut. 3. 17. If Destroyed 

all that breathed. That is. of man- 
kind; for they kept the cattle for 
spoil. 

41. All the country of Goshen. Not 
the country of that name in Egypt, 
the former residence of the Hebrews, 
but a place so called in Judah, four- 
teen miles south of Hebron, ch. 11. 
16; 15. 51. 

4-2. At one time. Heb. inn^ t::?i: 
'paani ekath. at one turn or one stroke^ 
i, e. in one uninterrupted course of 
vigorous action ; or, as we should 
say, in one campaign. The leading 
idea is that from the time Joshua en- 
tered upon this career of victories, 
till it was closed, there was no pause, 

no intermission, no cessation. 

^Because the Lord fought for Israel. 
This clause is introduced in order 
to give credibility to the foregoing 
iiarFative. Viewed in any other light 
than as the result of omnipotence, 
such a tide of victories would natu- 
rally stagger all belief 



CHAPTER XL 

1. Jabin kinsr of Hazer. After the 
very remarkable reduction of the 
southern parts of Canaan, related in 



all Israel with him, unto the 
camp to Gilgal. 

CHAPTER XL 

AND it came to pass, when 
Jabin kins; of Hazor had 
heard those, things^ that he ^sent 
to Jobab kino; of Madon, and to 
the king ^of Shimron, and to the 
king of Achshaph, 

a ch. 10. 3. b ch. 19. 15. 



the foregoing chapter, the kings of 
the north becoming apprehensive for 
their safety, are here presented in the 
act of making a common interest, 
and uniting with Jabin to put a stop 
to the further progress of the Israel- 
i[es. Jabin was probably the common 
name of all the kings of Hazor, as 
we find that the king by whom the 
Israelites Avere afterwards kept in 
bondage for twenty years, and who 
was defeated by Deborah and Barak, 
was so called. The name signifies 
icise, or intelligent. Hazor was a 
strong city on the west side of the 
waters of Merom, or lake Samecho- 
nitis, and the capital of northern Ca- 
naan. In the distribution of the land 
it fell to the tribe of Naphtali. It 
was in subsequent times frequently 
the seat of war, but not a ruin now 
remains to mark the place where it 

stood. ^ Madon. The position 

of this city is unknown. It was 
doubtless in the neighborhood of the 

-^{ Shimron. 



others here mentioned. 
Called also Shimron-Meron, ch. 13. 
10. It fell afterwards to the lot of 
Zebulon, and was situated about 
eleven miles to the north-east of 

Nazareth. ^ Achshajph. Situated 

in the tribe of Asher, near the con- 
fines of Zebulon. It was reduced to 
a small village, called Chasalus, in 



130 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1450. 



2 And to the kings that were 
on the north of the mountains, 
and of the plains south of " Cin- 
neroth, and in the valley, and 
in the borders '^of Dor on the 
west, 

3 And to the Canaanite on the 
east and on the west, and to the 
Amorite, and the Hittite, and 

r. Num. 34. 11. d ch. 17. 11. Judg. 1. 27. 
1 Kings 4. 11. 

the time of Jerome, at the close of the 
fourth century, but is now entirely 
swept away. 

2. That 7vere on the north of the 
mo^mtains. Heb. ^hH ^iljli!^ mitz- 
zephOn bahar^ from the north in the 
Tfiountain^ i. e. residing in the moun- 
tainous region of the north, the tract 

of Anti-Libanus. IT The plains 

south of Cinneroth. Heb. HD'lS^n 
baarabah, plain. An ancient city^ 
belonging afterwards to the tribe of 
Naphtaliy and supposed to have occu- 
pied the same site with the more 
modern Tiberias. From this city or 
village, the sea of Chinneroth, or 
Gennesarethj probably had its name. 
From the original it is not perfectly 
clear whether the plain spoken of lay 
to the south of CMnneroth^ or Chin- 
neroth to the south of that. In the 
former case, it would seem to have 
been the plain of the Jordan, which 
w^e think less likely. IT In the val- 
ley. In the low or valley tracts gen- 
erally, in contradistinction from the 
mountainous points which were in- 
habited. IT The borders of Dor. 

This was a place on the coast of the 
Mediterranean, about nine miles 
north of Cesarea Palestine, and at a 
little distance from mount Cannel. 
A small village, called Tortura, is 
in the vicinity of the ruins of the an- 



the Perizzite, and the Jebusite 
in the mountains, 'and to the 
Hivite under ^Hermon ^in the 
land of Mizpeh. 

4 And they went out, they and 
all their hosts with them, much 
people, ^even as the sand that 
is upon the sea-shore in multi- 



e Judg. 3, 3. fch. 13. 11. g. Gen. 31. 49. 
h Gen. 22. 17, and 31. 12. Judg. 7. 12. 1 Sam. 
13. 5. 



cient town, containing forty or fifty 
houses. 

3. The Canaanite on the east^ &c. 
The Canaaniies, properly so called, 
dwelt part of them in the east near 
Jordan, and part on the west near 

the sea ; both are here united. 

IT The Hivite under Eermon. At the 
foot of mount Hermon ; of which 
mountain see on Dent. 3. 9. They 
are designated in this way to distin- 
guish them from another portion of 
the same race dwelling at Gibeon, 
of whom we have already spoken. 
% In the land of Mizpeh. That 



is, the land of watching or espial, so 
called from its commanding an ex- 
tensive prospect of the surroundmg 
country, from which the approach or 
movements of an enemy might be 
discovered. There were several 
places of this name, but reference is 
here undoubtedly had to that lying 
in the northern quarter of Gilead, 
where Laban and Jacob made their 
covenant, as related Gen. 31. 48, 49. 
4. And they icent out. Took the 
field ; a phrase frequently employed 
by the sacred writers for going forth 
upon a military expedition. Thus 
2 Sam. 11. 1, 'And it came to pass 
— at the time when kings go forth^ 
i. e. to battle, as our version rightly 
understands it. Comp. Num. 21. 23 



B. C 1450.] 



CHAPTER XL 



131 



tude, with horses and chariots 
very many. 

5 And when all these kings 
were met together, they came 
and pitched together at the wa- 
ters of Merom, to tight against 
Israel. 



■^ As ike sand that is 



Job 39. 21. 

upoji the sea-skore. A proverbial ex- 
pression used to denote a vast but 
indefinite number—a number of 
which no accurate estimate could be 
formed. Jo-sephus, upon what au- 
thority we know not, is more particu- 
lar. He states the number at 300,000 
foot, 10.000 horse, and 20,000 cha- 
riots of war. Whether this be cor- 
rect or not, the words of the text lead 
us to infer that a \^st population now 
occupied the land of promise, and 
that the soil must have been of exu- 
berant fenijity to sustain it. The 
immense multitude, moreover, of the 
enemy went to heighten the glory of 
Joshua's victory. — — IT Witk horses 
and chariots very moynij. Heb. DID 
"I&^?2 ^"1 2-"l1 sus v<i^rek^b rab meod^ 
horse and chariot very much. The 
horses were probably brought out of 
Egypt or Arnienia, and not bred in 
Canaan, which was not a country 
favorable to their production or use. 
Deut. 17. IG; 1 Kings 10. 28, 29, 
The war chariots of the Canaanites 
are supposed to have been armed 
with iron scythes fastened to the 
poles and to the ends of the axle- 
trees. When furiously driven they 
would make fearful havoc in the 
ranks of infantry — of which only 
were the forces of Israel composed — 
mowing them down like grass. In 
view therefore of such a formidable 
armament mustered against him, 



6 IT And the Lord said unto 
Joshua, 'Be not afraid because 
of them : for to-morrow about 
this time will 1 deliver them up 
all slain before Israel : thou 
shalt ^ hough their horses, and 
burn their chariots with fire. 



i ch. 10. 



k 2 Sam. 8. 4. 



Joshua receives from the Lord a 
special encouragement and promise 
of success, 

5. Were met together. Heb. nS^I*^ 
mvvaedu^ icere assembled by appoint- 
ment. In pursuance of previous ar- 
rangements. Chah ' Met at a time 

agreed upon.' ^\ At the v:aters of 

Merom. Generally understood of 
the lake Semechon or Samechonitis, 
lying between the head of the river 
Jordan and the lake of GennesareU 
The name imports ' highness,' and 
is supposed to be so called because 
its waters were higher than those of 
the sea of Galilee. The Arabic 
SarrMka. from which Semechon is 
derived, has the same import. It is 
situated in a valley, and is now 
called Bahhrut el-Hhule^ i. e, the lake 
of the valley, a valley formed by the 
two branches of mount Hermon. In 
summer the lake is for the most part 
d?y, and covered w^th shrubs and 
grass, in which lions, bears, and other 
wild beasts conceal themselves. 

6. Shxill hough their horses. That 
is, hamstring them, cut the sinews of 
their legs. On the effects of such a 
treatment of these animals, Mich- 
aelis remarks, that ' irom ignorance 
of military affairs, most expositors 
have understood this command, as 
if it meant, not that the horses should 
be killed, but merely lamed in their 
hind legs, and then let go. But a 
horse so treated, must, instead of run- 



132 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1450 



7 So Joshua came, and all the 
people of war with him, against 
them by the waters of Merom 

ning off, fall instantly backwards, 
and writhe about miserably till he 
die, which generally happens from 
loss of blood, by the stroke of the 
sabre cutting the artery of the thigh. 
This is still, as military people have 
since informed me, the plan adopted 
to make those horses that are taken, 
but cannot be easily brought away, 
unser'^'ieeable to the enemy again. 
They hamstring them, which can be 
done in an instant • and they gene- 
rally die of the wound by bleeding to 
death; but though they shoQld not, 
the wound never heals • so that even 
if the enemy recover them alive, he 
is forced to dispatch them ; and eve- 
ry compassionate friend of horses 
who has ever seen one in that situa- 
tion, will do so in order to terminate 
his misery. There is no founda- 
tion for Kimcbi's opinion, that mere 
laming was enjoined, because it 
ivould be wrong to put an animal un- 
necessarily to death. For thus to 
lame a horse that would still live, in 
my opinion, would rather hare been 
extreme cruelty ; because, being then 
useless^ nobody would be likely to 
give him any food.' {Comment, on 
Laivs of Moses, Art. lxiv.) The 
reasons for prescribing such a treat- 
ment probably were (1) Because God 
would have his people act upon the 
resolution expressed by the Psalmist, 
Ps. 20, 7, ' Some trust in chariots and 
some in horses ; but we will remem- 
ber the name of the Lord our God.' 
If horses had been in common use 
among them, they would have been 
apt to rely upon them instead of trust- 
ing to the aid of omnipotence in 



suddenly, and they fell upon 
them. 
8 And the Lord delivered 



achieving their conquests. But God's 
design was to cut them oif from hu- 
man resources, and by enabling a 
company of raw and inexperienced 
footmen to rout bodies of cavalry, to 
secure the glory of the victory to his 
own right arm, to which only it was 
due. (2) Because horses were a kind 
of 'useless plunder to the Israelites. 
From the nature of the country 'they 
could not well be employed for pur- 
poses of agriculture. In that rough 
and mountainous land, oxen and 
asses could be emplo3^ed to much 
greater advantage -, and as to travel- 
ling, it was never designed that the 
Israelites should be a travelling peo- 
ple. They were to be an agricultu- 
ral and not a commercial race. They 
were to live apart frorri other nations 
as a religions community. Their 
stated journeys to Jerusalem to attend 
upon the religious festivals would be 
about all the travelling that would be 
necessary, and this on their rough 
roads could be better performed on 
foot or on asses than on horses. Such 
of these animals therefore as they 
took in war could be of no use to 
them, unless they sold them, and this 
would not be wise, as they might 
finally have come round again into 
the hands of their enemies. The true 
policy accordingly was to diminish 
as far as possible this race of animals, 
which might give their enemies a 
signal advantage, and in this policy 
we suppose the present order to have 
originated. 

7. Suddenly. The great feature 
of Joshua's military operations ap- 
pears to have been dispatch'. In the 



B C. 1450.] 



CHAPTER XI. 



138 



them into the hand of Israel, 
who smote them, and chased 
them unto great Zidon, and unto 
^ Misrephoih-maim, and unto the 
valley of Mispeh eastward ; and 
they smote them, until they left 
them none remaining. 

9 And Joshua did unto them 
*" as the Lord bade him : he 
houghed their horses, and burnt 
their chariots with fire. 

1 ch. 13. 6. m ver. 6, 

celerity of his movements he seems 
to have equalled the most renowned 
generals whether of ancient or mod- 
ern times. Being now apprised of 
this grand combiDaiion of the north- 
ern kings, he loses no time, but by a 
forced march, and before they could 
have supposed him at hand, comes 
suddenly upon them and puts them 
to the rout. 

8. Unto great Zidon. A well 
known city of Ancient Pheniciaj sit- 
uated on the east coast of the Medi- 
terranean, about twenty-five miles 
north of Tyre, fifty south of Berytus 
(Beyroot), and sixty-six w^est of Da- 
mascus. Its modern name is Said. 
The epithet H^^ rabbah^ great^ here 
affixed to it, is expressive of number 
rather than of size, and implies not 
only its populousness, but the extent 
and variety of its resources of every 

kind. IF Misrephotk-maim. Or, 

Heb. tD^)D mt}^r>2 Misrepoth of the 
^caters, i. e. the burning of the waters ; 
but whether so called from its being 
noted for hot springs, or the manufac- 
ture of glass, or of salt, each of which 
has been conjectured, or from some 
ether cause, it is not possible to deter- 
mine. It is supposed to have been a 
place on the sea coast, about three 

miles north of Si don. "^Volley of 

12 



10 ^ And Joshua at that time 
turned back, and took Hazor, 
and smote the king thereof with 
the sword : for Hazor before- 
time was the head of all those 
kingdoms. 

11 And they smote all the 
souls that were therein wi1»h the 
edge of the sword, utterly de- 
stroying them : there w^as not 
any left to breathe : and he 
burnt Hazor with fire. 



Mizpek. Under mount Hermon, as 
appears by comparing this with v. 5 
and 17, in the latter of which it ap- 
pears to be called the valley of Leba- 
non. This place lay on the east, as 
Sidon did on the west, so that the 
vanquished enemy lied in tw^o differ- 
ent directions, in both of which they 

were pursued by the conquerors. 

IF Until they left them 7ione remaining. 
From other portions of the history, 
it is plain that this language here and 
elsewhere, is not to be construed in 
its most literal import. Numbers of 
the Canaanites did undoubtedly es- 
cape the sword of the Israelites, and 
fled to Zidon, Tyre and other mari- 
time cities; and even here it appears 
that Jabin escaped with his life from 
the battle. But the drift of the words 
is to intimate, that they left none 
alive who fell into their hands, whom- 
soever they encountered or overtook 
they slew. 

10. Hazor — was the head, &c. Not 
of all Canaan, but of those northern 
principalities which were combined 
in this expedition against Israel. 
This city, however, afterw-ards re- 
cov^ered itself, and grievously op- 
pressed the people of Israel, Judges 
4.2. 

11. Not any left to breathe. Heb. 



134 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1450 



12 And all the cities of those 
kings, and all the kings of them, 
did Joshua take, and srnole 
them with the edge of the 
sword, and he utterly destroyed 

n^'iL'D nishmah^ any breath, i. e. not 

any human being. ^He burnt Ha- 

zar icithjire. Comp. v. 13. It is not 
said expressly of the Israelites, in 
this part of the narrative, that theij 
burnt any city whatever, as such a 
statement might give rise to the im- 
pression that, in the ardor of military 
zeal, they were guilty of excesses, 
and in the spirit of a licentious sol- 
diery, were eager to apply the torch 
to the devoted cities. On the contra- 
ry, the act is attributed to Joshua, 
implying that it was done calmly and 
deliberately, and in all likelihood by 
Divine direction. The phraseology 
is so constructed as to give a striking 
testimony to the moderation and self- 
control of the armies of the Most 
High. 

12. Utterly destroyed them. That 
is, th-e persons, the inhabitants ; for 
many of the cities themselves, as well 
as the spoils which they contained, 
were preserved, as we learn in the 
ensuing verse. 

13. The cities that stood still in their 
strength. Heb. tPX\ ^V tr\^\)2V omee- 
deth al lillam. standing upon, or by, 
their heaps. It would be difficult to 
point out any single expression in 
the whole book of Joshua, perhaps in 
the whole Scriptures, more difficult 
of explanation than this. The exact 
literal version of the words we have 
given above ; but our common trans- 
lation has followed the Chaldee para- 
phrase in rendering the Heb. ^D tal, 
by ' strength,' a sense which it has in 
no other instance, that we can dis- 



them, " as Moses the servant of 
the Lord commanded. 

13 But as for the cities that 
stood still in their strength, 

n Num. 33. 52. Deut. 7. 2, and 20. 16, 17. 



cover, in the compass of the sacred 
writings. Its prevailing and legiti- 
mate import is a '• heap of ruins.' 
Thus Deut. 13. 16, in reference to the 
city which had become the seat of 
idolatry ; ' Thou shalt gather all the 
spoil of it into the midst of the street 
thereof, and shalt burn with fire the 
city, and all the spoil thereof for the 
Lord thy God; and it shall be an 
heap (in) for ever; it shall not be 
built again.' Josh. 8. 285 'And Joshua 
burnt Ai, and made it an heap (in) 
for ever, even a desolation unto this 
day.' Jer. 49. 2, ' I will cause an 
alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah 
of the Ammonites, and it shall be a 
desolate heap (H^j^j^' in tal shema- 
mah), and her daughters shall be 
biirned with fire.' Jer. 30. 18, ' The 
city shall be bidlded upon her own 
heap (nin tilldh) ;' i. e. upon its own 
ruins. These examples show the 
genuine force of the word. The mass 
of expositors, how^ever, from the 
afiiniiy of the ideas of a heap of ruins 
and an eminence, or elevaMon^oi any 
kind, and not knowing what to un- 
derstand by cities 'standing upon 
their ruinous heaps,' have been led 
to interpret it of cities standing upon 
hills, or rocky heights, forming natu- 
ral fortresses of great strengh, and 
such as the Israelites chose to retain 
for their own use. To this solution 
we should have nothing to object 
were it warranted by the native im- 
port of the term ; but we arc per- 
suaded it is not. The true rendering 
is unquestionably that which we hav 



B. C. 1450.] 



CHAPTER XI. 



135 



Israel burned none of them, 
save Hazor only ; that did Josh- 
ua burn 

14 And all the spoil of these 
cities, and the cattle, the child- 
ren of Israel took for a prey 
unto themselves : but every man 
they smote with the edge of the 
sword, until they had destroyed 
them, neither left they any to 
breathe. 

15 IT ° As the Lord command- 

o Exod. 34. 11, 12. 



given, and a consistent sense is to be 
sought for the phrase. From an at- 
tentive comparison of the context, it 
appears that ihe kings and the inhab- 
itants of these cities were ail put to 
the sword, while the cattle and the 
spoil generally went into the hands 
of the captors. During the time, 
therefore, of the actual occurrence 
of these events, the ciiies in question 
must have presented a fearful scene 
of carnage and desolation. Heaps 
of lifeless bodies and of gathered 
spoil would be accumulated in the 
streets, and wherever such a com- 
plete conquest and pillage could 
be easily effected without demolish- 
ing the walls, buildings, or fortifica 
tions of the cities, those cities might 
be said to ' stand still, or continue to 
stand upon, over, or by their ruinous 
heaps,' i. e. heaps of the slain and 
heaps of spoil. This doubtless was 
the case in numerous instances. It 
was not absolutely necessary to raze 
and burn all the cities, and so many 
of them were spared ; but Hazor be- 
ing the head of the confederacy and 
more guilty than the rest, was prop- 
erly made an exception and utterly 

destroyed': "^Save Hazor only. As 

this city had begun the war, and from 



ed Moses his servant, so ^did 
Moses command Joshua, and 
"^so did Joshua : he left nothing 
undone of all that the Lord 
commanded Moses. 

16 So Joshua took all that 
land, ""the hills, and all the south 
country, 'and all the land of Go- 
shen, and the valley and the 
plain, and the mountain of Isra- 
el, and the valley of the same : 

P Deut. 7. 2. q ch. 1. 7. r ch. 12.8. s ch. 
10.41. 

its being a royal residence and strong- 
ly fortified might, if it should fall 
back into the hands of the Canaan- 
ites, possess peculiar facilities for re- 
newing and carrying it on afresh, 
Joshua deemed it prudent to guard 
against all danger from that quarter 
by demolishing it altogether. — So the 
Christian, if he finds his spiritual ene- 
mies likely to entrench themselves in 
any particular corruption or infirmity 
of his nature, and thence to make vio- 
lent inroads upon his peace, is bound 
at all hazards, by crucifying such a 
lust, to depriv^e them of this advan- 
tage. If they can be dislodged from 
their stronghold in no other way, let 
him destroy the stronghold itself. 

14. All the spoils of these cities— Is- 
rael took. With the exception of 
such things as had been employed 
for idolatrous purposes, Deut. 7. 25. 

15. As the Lord commanded Moses, 
&c. A virtual vindication of the Is- 
raelites from the charge of cruelty 
which might possibly be brought 
against them in view of the severi- 
ties exercised towards these van- 
quished kings and people of Canaan. 
IT He left nothing undone. Or, 



Heb. ini S"^Dn i^i lo hesir dabar, 
removed^ rejected^ diminished nothing. 



136 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1450. 



17 ^Even from the mount Ha- 
lak, that goeth up to Seir, even 
unto Baai-gad, in the valley of 
Lebanon under mount Hermon ; 

I ch. 12. 7. 

16. The mountain of Israel and the 
valley of the same. Not any particu- 
lar mountain and valley, but the 
mountains and valkys generally in- 
cluded in the whole extent of the 
land of Israel. 

17. rrom the Mount Halak. That 
is, Heb. pj^nn ^TT\ hahar hehalak, 
the bare^ smooth^ or bald mountain^ so 
called from its being destiiuie of trees. 
The writer's design seems to be to 
specify the extreme southern and 
northern limits of the promised land. 
Joshua's conquests extended from the 
borders of Seir or Edom, where 
Mount Halak was situated, north- 
ward to Baal-gad, which lies at the 
foot of Mount Lebanon. 

18. Joshua made wo.r a long time. 
Heb. D^3"l tD^^'^ yamim rabbim^ ma- 
ny days. As many at least as six or 
seven years; as appears from com- 
paring ch. 14. 7-10 ; the first having 
been occupied in the conquest of the 
southern portion of the land, and the 
remaining five or six in that of the 
northern. It would seem that the 
writer by inserting this statement 
here designed to guard the reader 
against the impression that, as the 
record of these wars is very brief, so 
the space of time in which they were 
accomplished was also brief. This 
by no means follows, as the present 
account is intended as a mere rapid 
sketch or outline of Israel's victories 
over the nations of Canaan. In the 
sacred writings the compass of a few 
sentences often contains the events 
of many years. — We may not per- 



and "all their kings he took, and 
smote them, and slew them. 

18 Joshua made war a lono; 
tune with all those kings. 

u Deut. 7. 24. ch. 12. 7. 

haps be able to state all the reasons 
that weighed in the Divine mind for 
thus prolonging the warfare of his 
people, but of one we are assured by 
God himself, Deut. 7. 22, ' The Lord 
thy God will put out those nations 
before thee by little and little ; thou 
mayest not consume them at once, 
lest the beasts of the field increase upon 
thee."" In addition to this, it was no 
doubt the purpose of heaven to try 
the faith and patience of his people 
by a long series of arduous struggles. 
Although the commencement of the 
work was marked by a succession of 
wonderful interpositions in their be- 
half, yet in its progress they were to 
be left more to their personal exer- 
tions. God would not make his mi- 
raculous aid too cheap in their eyes 
by making it common. He would 
train them to a course of the most 
vigorous efforts on their part, while 
at the same time they were taught 
their continual dependence on Him 
for success in their conflicts. This 
is in beautiful analogy with the war- 
fare of the Christian. In its com- 
mencement, at the outset of the 
Christian life, the power of God is 
no less wonderfully displayed than in 
the history before us. The transition 
of a soul from darkness to light is 
virtually a miracle. It is effected by 
the sovereign power of God as reall}^, 
and to the sinner's consciousness in 
many instances as marvellously, as 
the passage of Israel through th.e 
cloven waters of Jordan. But in n ; 
progress, the work is carried forw: id 



B. C. 1450.] 



CHAPTER XL 



137 



19 There was not a city that 
made peace with the children 
of Israel, save ^ the Hivites the 

X ch. 9. 3. 7. y Deut. 2. 30. Jud^. 14. 4. 

more appropriately by his own act- 
ings. He has the armor given him, 
but his own activily is called forth in 
the use of it. His whole life is to 
be a slate of warfare, and it is by 
hard fighting that he is to obtain the 
victory. No one enemy will submit 
to him without an obstinate resist- 
ance, nor until violently smitten with 
the sword of the Spirit. There will 
be some seasons of more than ordi- 
nary conflict, when he will need pe- 
culiar succor from on high ; and 
there will be other seasons of com- 
parative rest ; but there is no entire 
discharge in this w^ar till mortality 
is swallowed up of life ; and then he 
shall enjoy the fruit of his victories 
in everlasting rest. 

19. Not a city that made peace — 
save the Hivites^ &c. Although in 
the commands given to Moses re- 
specting the extirpation of the Ca- 
naanites we have no express intima- 
tion that any of them w^ere to be 
spared upon their voluntary surren- 
der and submission, yet from, the ex- 
ample of Rahab and the Gibeonites, 
and especially from these words, the 
presumption is, that this was the 
case. The Divine laws, wherever 
it can be done without compromising 
the interests of justice, always lean to 
the side of mercy. Besides, it has 
been justly remarked, that the reason 
of the law is the law. The evil de- 
signed to be prevented by the order 
for the universal destruction of the 
Canaanites, was the infecting of the 
Israelites with their idolatry, Deut. 
7. 4. But if these devoted nations 
12^ 



inhabitants of Gibeon : all other 
they took in battle. 
20 For ^'it was of the Lord to 

1 Sam. 2. 25. 1 Kings 12. 15. Rom. 9. 18. 

renounced their idolatry, and came 
heartily into the interest of Israel, 
the danger was effectually prevented, 
the reason of the law ceased, and 
consequently, we may suppose, the 
obligation ceased also. But the Ca- 
naanites in general were not in the 
least disposed to do this, nor did they 
so much as propose terms of accom- 
modation. Of the cause, or occasion 
rather, of this utter infatuation, we 
are informed in the ensuing verse. 

"^ All other they took in battle. 

That is, all whom they did take, they 
took in battle. Thej^ received none 
upon submission. It is certain from 
other parts of the sacred narrative, 
that the Canaanites were neither 
utterly exterminated, nor absolutely 
driven from their settlements, either 
by Joshua or his immediate suc- 
cessors. On the contrary, a large 
proportion of them fled, it is supposed, 
to Tyre and Zidon, and thence mi- 
grated into distant coimtries, particu- 
larly Africa, Avhere they established 
numerous and flourishing colonies. 
Procopius relates that the Phoeni- 
cians fled before the Hebrews into 
Africa, and spread themselves abroad 
as far as the pillars of Hercules, and 
adds, ' In Nurnidia, where now stands 
the city Tigris (Tangiers) they have 
erected two columns, on which, in 
Phoenician characters, is the follow- 
ing inscription : — '■ We are the Phoe- 
nicians, who fled from the face of 
that notorious robber, Jesus (or 
Joshua) the son of Nave (Nun)." ' 
Numbers, however, yet remained to 
dispute, for ages, the possession of 



138 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1450. 



harden their hearts, that they 
should come against Israel in 
battle, that he might destroy 
them utterly, and that they 
might have no favor, but that 
he might destroy them ^ as the 
Lord commanded Moses. 

21 IT And at that time came 
Joshua and cut off '""the Ana- 

z Deut. 20. 16, 17. 

the land with their invaders, and to 
cause them infinite trouble. 

20. It icas of the Lord to harden 
their hearts. On the subject of God's 
hardening the hearts of men, see 
Note on Ex. ch. 4. 21. The meaning 
here is simply that having sinned for 
a long tract of ages against the light 
of conscience and providence, God 
was now pleased to leave them to a 
judiciat hardness of heart, to give 
them up to vain confidence, pride, 
stubbornness, and malignity, that 
they might bring upon themselves 
hisrighieous vengeance andbe utterly 
destroyed. This result is said to be 
' of or from the Lord,' because he did 

not interpose to prevent it. ^ ^5 

the Lord commanded Moses. This 
expression occurs here and elsewhere 
in this connexion, v. 15, ' to show 
that Joshua and Israel did not act out 
of cruelty, revenge, and avarice ; but 
simply in obedience to God, which 
alone could induce piousmen to make 
such undistinguishing slaughter of 
their fellow-creatures: and doubtless 
many of them did very great vio- 
lence to their own feelings and incli- 
nations, while engaged in that ser- 
vice.' Scott. 

21. At that time. That is, during 
this war ; in the course of these 
conquests. The words refer to no 
special point of time, as the w^ork 



kims from the mountains, from 
Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, 
and from all the mountains of 
Judah, and from all the moun- 
tains of Israel : Joshua destroy- 
ed them utterly with their cities. 
22 There Avas none of the 
Anakims left in the land of the 



a Num. 13. 22. 33. 
13, 14. 



Deut. L 28. ch. 15. 



was gradually accomplished during 
the lapse of a considerable period. 
Some suppose this to be merely a 
recapitulation of the military opera- 
tions detailed ch. 10. 36-41, adding 
here a memorable circumstance there 
omitted, viz. the destruction of the 
Anakims, with the rest of the inhab- 
itants of those places. Of this gigan- 
tic race, see on Num. 13. 33. Their 
cutting off is particularly mentioned 
here, because they had been such a 
terror to the spies forty years before, 
to whom their bulk and strength 
made them appear as ab.solutely in- 
vincible. Even the opposition which 
they feared the most was overcome. 
'Never let the sons of Anak be a 
terror to the Israel of God, for even 
their day will come to fall. Giants 
are dwarfs to Omnipotence.' Henry, 
Though these Anakims were now 
for the most part reduced, yet num- 
bers of them escaped and took refuge 
in the country of the Philistines, and 
settled there, from whom Goliath, 
and other giants, descended. After 
a time some of them returned with 
followers, and rebuilt the cities from 
which they had been expelled ; and 
Coleb and Othniel, to whom that re- 
gion was assigned, vanquished and 
destroyed them after the division of 
the land. Ch. 14. 6-15 ; 15. 13-17. 
23. So Joshua took the whole land. 



B. C. 1452.] 



CHAPTER XII. 



139 



children of Israel : only in Gaza, 
in ''Gath, '^ and in Ashdod, there 
remained. 

23 So Joshua took the whole 
land, '^according to all that the 
Lord said unto Moses, and 
Joshua gave it for an inheritance 
unto Israel ^according to their 
divisions by their tribes. ^ And 
the land rested from war. 

b 1 Sain. 17. 4. c cli. 15. 46. d Num. 34. 
2. &c. e Num. 26. 53. ch. 14, and 15. and 

I 

Not absolutely the whole, for in ch. j 
13. 1, the Lord himself is represented 
as saying to Joshua, ' There remain- 
eth yet very much land lo be pos- 
sessed,' but all the country described 
here and in the preceding chapter ; 
the greatest and best part of it. 

23. Gave it for an inheritance unto 
Israel. The actual distribution of 
the land is detailed afterwards. 



CHAPTER XII. 

We have in the present chapter a 
recapitulation of all the victories thus 
far achieved. As the writer is about 
to enter upon a particular account 
of the distribution of the land among 
the tribes, he here pauses to give 
previously a genera] vieAV of the ter- 
ritory to be divided, including the 
tracts on both sides the Jordan. This 
he does by specifjing the kings, ra- 
ther than the countries over which 
they reigned ; for the power of a state 
is concentrated in the person of its 
sovereign, and such an enumeration 
presents the subject more vividly to 
the mind of the reader. — The first 
six verses contain a li.st of the kings 
on the east side of Jordan, conquered 
by Moses, with their territories, and 
the remainder of the chapter is occu- 
pied with a catalogue of those that 



CHAPTER XII. 

NOW these are the kings of 
the land, which the child- 
ren of Israel smote, and pos- 
sessed their land on the other 
side Jordan toward the rising 
of the sun, ""from the river Ar- 
non, ^unto mount Hermon, and 
all the plain on the east : 

16. and 17. and 18. and 19. f ch. 14. 15, and 
21. 44. and 22. 4, and 23. 1. ver. 18. 
ri Num. 21. 24. b Deut. 3. 8, 9. 

were reduced by Joshua. ' The en- 
joyment of present blessings under 
living benefactors, should not be suf- 
fered to eflace the remembrance of 
former mercies procured by the in- 
strumentality of God's honored ser- 
vants who have entered into their 
rest. The services and achieve- 
ments of Joshua should not eclipse 
those of Moses.' Henry, The pas- 
sages referred to in the margin give 
all the useful information that can 
now be gleaned respecting those 
places, but recourse to a good map 
of ancient Canaan is indispensable 
to obtaining a clear idea of the sub- 
ject. 

1. From the river Arnon unto 
Mount Hermofi. The small river 
Arnon was the boundary of all the 
southern coast of the land occupied 
by the Israelites beyond Jordan. 
The mountains of Hermon were the 
boundaries on the north. The Ar- 
non takes its rise in the mountains 
of Gileadj and after running a con- 
siderable distance from north to 
south, turns to the north-west and 
falls into the Dead Sea not very far 
from the place where the Jordan 
discharges itself See Num. 21. 13; 

Deut. 2. 24. %And all the plain on 

the east. Or, even all the plain j all 



140 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1452. 



2 '^ Sihon king of the Amorites, 
who dwelt in lieshbon, and 
ruled from Aroer, w hich is upon 
the bank of the river Arnon, and 
from the middle of the river, 
and from half Gilead, even unto 
the river Jabbok, ivhich is the 
border of the children of Ammon ; 

c Num. 21. 24. Deut. 2. 33, 36, and 3. 6, lb'. 

the arable champaign country on the 
east of the Jordan, and called, Deut. 
31. 1, ' The plains of Moab.' On the 
physical features of this country, see 
Note on Num. 3. 2. . 

2. Buled from Aroer. The king- 
dom of Sihon was bounded by the 
Arnon on the south, tlie Jabbok on 
the north, the Jordan en the west, 
and the mountains of Arabia on the 

east. IF And frovi the middle of the 

river. Heb. inDtl 'lir,1 xethok haib- 
nahal^ and that which lies heticecn the 
streams. A line passing along the 
middle of a stream, and that stream 
by no means a large one, is so re- 
markable a boundary to be adopted 
by ancient barbarous clans, that we 
are quite satisfied the translation is 
erroneotis. The word ' from,' intro- 
duced by our translators, does not 
occur in the original, either here or 
in the ensuing clause, ' from half 
Gilead,' and the meaning undoubted- 
ly is, that Sihon ruled from Aroer 
over the country lying betw.een the 
rivers (collect, sing, for plur.) even 
the half of Gilead, as far north as to 
the river Jabbok. See on ch. 13. 9. 
All the region lying intermediate be- 
tween the above-mentioned streams, 
and sometimes called 'half Gilead,' 
was subject to his authority. This 
interpretation is strikingly confirmed 
by the words of Josephus relative to 
the territory of Sihon, which, he says, 



3 And ^from the plain to the 
sea of CinneroLh on the ea^l, 
and unto the sea of the plain, 
even the salt sea on the east, 
^ the w^ay to Beth-jeshimoth ; 
and from the south, under ^ Ash- 
doth-pisgah : 

d Deut. 3. 17. e ch. 13. 20. f Deut. 3. 
17, and 4. 49. 

' is a country situate beticeen three 
rivers^ and naturally resembling an 
island; the river Arnon being its 
southern limit, the river Jabbok de- 
termining its northern side, while 
Jordan itself runs along by it on its 
western coast.' (Antiq. B. 41, ch. 5.) 
The Other half of Gilead, as appears 
from V. 4, 5, lay beyond the Jabbok, 
and belonged to the kingdom of Og. 
3. And from the plain ^ &c. Here 
again the w^ord ' from ' is gratuitous- 
ly, and, as we conceive, erroneously 
inserted. The design of the writer 
is merely to give a more distinct view 
of the position of the tract called ' the 
plain,' w^hich embraced, as w^e sup- 
pose, the plain of the Jordan on its 
eastern side, extending from the sea 
of Cinneroth or Gennesaret on the 
north to the salt or Dead Sea on the 
south. It is not implied that he 
reigned to the sea of Cinneroth, but 
that the plain in question extended that- 
far^ the largest part of wiiich iel* 

into his dominions. IT Sea of the 

plain. The Dead Sea is so called 
from its occupying what w^as once a 
fertile, luxuriant, and beautiful plain, 
in which were situated the cities of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, called also 
the 'cities of the plain.' ^\ Beth-je- 
shimoth. Situated about ten miles 
east of the Jordan, and about ihe 

same distance from its mouth 

IF From the south. Or, Heb. "^^S^^r^a 



B. C. 1452.] 



CHAPTER XII. 



141 



4 IT And ^the coast of Og 
king of Bash an, ivhich teas of 
*" the remnant of the giants, ' that 
dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, 

5 And reigned in ^ mount Her- 
mon, ^ and m Salcah, and in all 
Bashan, "' unto the border of the 
Geshurites, and the Maacha- 
thites, and half Gilead, the bor- 
der of Sihon kino; of Heshbon. 

6 ''Them did Moses the ser- 
v^ant of the Lord, and the child- 
ren of Israel smite : and ° Moses 
the servant of the Lord gave it 
for a possession unto the Reu- 
ben ites, and the Gadites, and the 
half-tribe of Manasseh. 

7 IT And these are the kings of 
the country ^ which Joshua and 

g Numb. 21. 35. Deut. 3. 4, 10. h Deut. 
3. 11. ch. 13, 12. 1 Deut. 1.4. k Deut. 3.8. 
1 Deut. 3. 10. ch. 13. 11. m Deut. 3. 14. 
n Numb. 21. 24, 33. o Numb. 32. 29, 33. 
Deut. 3 11, 12. ch. 13. 8. p ch. 11. 17. 

mittemart, from Teman. ^ Under 

As/idotk-pisgah. Seated in the plains, 
or rather the islopes at the foot of 
mount Pisgah. The original word, 
TilTiJi^ Ashdotk, probably signifies 
the loiv places at the foot of a moun- 
tain. Corap. Deut. 3. 17; 4. 49. 

4. A7id the coast of Og, king of Ba- 
shan. Supply here from v. 1, And 
the children of Israel smote and pos- 
sessed the coast,' &€. Varying a little 
the phraseology with which he com- 
menced, the writer here speaks Ifirst 
of the country of the king of Bashan, 
instead of enumerating the king him- 
self. IF Of the remnant of the giants. 

See on Deut. 3. 11. ^ That 

iiaell at Ashtaroth and at Edrei. 
Refering to Og, and not to the giants. 
Probably both were royal cities, and 
le resided sometimes io caie, and 
sometimes in the other. The reader 



the children of Israel smote on 
this side Jordan on the west, 
from Baal-gad in the valley of 
Lebanon, even unto the mount 
Halak that goeth up to "^ Seir ; 
which Joshua ""gave unto the 
tribes of Israel for a possession 
according to their divisions ; 

8 'In the mountains, and in 
the valleys, and in the plains, 
and in the springs, and in the 
wilderness, and in the south 
country ; Hhe Hittites, the Am- 
orites, and the Canaanites, the 
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the 
Jebusites : 

9 ^ " The king of Jericho, one ; 
^the king of Ai, which is beside 
Beth-el, one ; 



q Gen. 14. 6. and 32. 3. Deut. 2 1.4. r ch. 
11. 23. s ch. 10. 40, and 11. 16. I'Ex. 3. 8, 
and 23. 23. ch. 9. 1. u ch. 6. 2. x ch. 

8.29. 



will find their position on the map, 
as also that of the places mentioned 
in the ensuing verse. 

6. Gave it for a possess on. The 
word ' it ' has no antecedent express- 
ed, but it is easily referred to the 
whole extent of country here spoken 
of, which was taken by Moses and 
given to the two tribes and a half as 
an inheritance. 

7. From Baal-gad. A repetition 
of what is mentioned; ch. 11. 17. 

8. In the movAitains, and i?i the val- 
leys, &c. The meaning probably is, 
that he smoie the nations dwelling in 
the mountains, valleys, &c., even the 
HittiieS; the Amorites, &c. The 
words convey at the same time a 
striking intimation of the general 
features of the country, its rich vari- 
ety of soils, contributing at once to 
its fruitfulness and its pleasantness. 



142 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1452. 



10 ^The king of Jerusalem, 
one ; the king of Hebron, one ; 

11 The king of Jarmuth, one j 
the king of Lachish, one ; 

12 The king of Eglon, one ; 
*the king of Gezer, one ; 

13 *The king of Debir, one; 
the king of Geder, one ; 

14 The king of Hormah, one ; 
the king of Arad, one ; 

15 ^The king of Libnah, one ; 
the king of Adullam, one ; 

16 ^The king of Makkedah, 
one ; '^ the king of Beth-el, one ; 

17 The king of Tappuah, one ; 
^ the king of Hepher, one ; 

18 The king of Aphek, one ; 
the king of ^Lasharon, one ; 

19 The king of Madon, one ; 
^ the king of Hazor, one ; 

y ch. 10. 23. z ch. 10. 33. a ch. 10. 38. 
b ch. 10. 29. c ch. 10. 28. d ch. 8. 17. Judg. 

I. 22 el Kings 4. 10. f Isai. 33. 9. s ch. 

II. 10. 

24. All the kings, thirty and one. 
From the number of these kings, we 
may learn how numerous and yet 
how small w^ere the petty principal- 
ities into which the land of Canaan 
was divided. The extent of this 
country from north to south was not 
more than 150 miles, and not more 
than fifty from east to west. In like 
manner were nearly all the different 
nations of the world divided. The 
consequence was that civil wars and 
border feuds continually prevailed, 
making them an easy prey to foreign 
invaders. Thus history informs us 
that when Caesar invaded Britain 
there were no less than four kings in 
the single county of Kent. 



20 The king of ^ Shimron-me- 
ron, one ; the king of Achshaph, 
one ; 

21 The king of Taanach, one ; 
the king of Megiddo, one ; 

22 ' The king of Kedesh, one ; 
the king of Jokneam of Carmel, 
one ; 

23 The king of Dor in the 
^ coast of Dor, one ; the king of 
4he nations of Gilgal, one ; 

24 The king of Tirzah, one • 
all the kings, thirty and one. 

CHAPTER Xm. 
OW Joshua ''was old aiid 
stricken in years ; and the 
Lord said unto him, Thou art 
old and stricken in years, and 
there remaineth yet very much 
land ^to be possessed. 

h ch, 11 . 1. and 19. 15. i ch. 19. 37. k ch. 
11. 2. ] Gen. 14. 1, 2. Isai. 9. 1. a ch. 14. 
10, and 23. 1. b Deut 31. 3. 



N 



CHAPTER XIII. 

1. Joshua loas old. In all proba- 
bility about a hundred, as he employ- 



ed not far from seven years in the 
conquest of the land, and is supposed 
to have spent about one in dividing 
it, and he died about ten years after, 
aged one hundred and ten years, ch. 

24. 29. II Stricken in years. Heb. 

U'^)3'^D Jj^D ba bayamim. coming or 
entering into days. See Gen. 18. 11. 

IT There remaineth yet very much 

land to be possessed. Heb. nrit:ii 
lerishtah, to possess it. This is men- 
tioned to Joshua not as a reason for 
his continuing the war, but for sus- 
pending it, though to the Israelites 
the intimation would answer a dif- 
ferent purpose. They were admon- 
ished by it that they were still to hold 
themselves in readiness for prosecut- 
ing the war in due time, and not to 
think of putting off the harness as 
long as there remained any land to 
be possessed. But as to Joshua, at 



B. C. 1445.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 



143 



2 '^This is the land that yet 
remaineth : ^ all the borders of 
the Philistines, and all ' Geshuri, 

c Judg. 3. 1. (1 Joel 3. 4. e ver. 13. 2 
Sam. 3. 3, and 13. 37, 38. 

his advanced age he could not expect 
to see an end of the war, and there- 
fore it was expedient that he should 
lay aside other cares and make pre- 
paration at once for dividing the land 
among those tribes which had not 
yet received their inheritance. This 
work: was to be done, and done speed- 
ily, and done, moiTover, under the 
superintendence of Joshua Conse- 
quently as he was now old, and not 
likely to continue long, he was to 
lose no time in setiing about it. ' All 
people, but especially the aged, should 
set themselves to do that quickly 
which must be done before they die, 
lest death prevent them. Eccl. 9. 10.' 
Henry. 

2. The land that yet remaineth. 
That yet remaineth to be conquered. 

^[All the borders of the Philistines. 

Lying on the southern coast of the 
Mediterranean. The Philistines are 
no where else mentioned among the 
devo:ed nations of Canaan, and the 
reason of their being enumerated 
here probably is, that their territories 
formerly belonged to the Canaanites, 
who were driven away and supplant- 
ed by them, Deut. 2. 23. Viewed in 
this light, therefore, as being original- 
ly and legitimately the country of 
the Canaanites, the possessions of the 
Philistines were appointed to come 

into the hands of Israel. %And all 

Geshuri. There were two places of 
this name. The one probably in- 
tended here was situated in the half 
tribe of Manasseh, on the east of Jor- 
dan, and in the north-eastern quarter 
of the promised land. As the Geshu- 



3 ^From Sihor, which is be- 
fore Egypt, even unto the bor- 
ders of Ekron northward, which 



f Jer. 2, 18. 



rites were not extirpated by the Isra- 
elites they continued even in the 
time of Absalom to be governed by 
their own princes, one of whom, Tal- 
mai, had a daughter married to Da- 
vid, 2 Sam. 13. 37. 

3. Sihor. In all probability a name 
of the river Nile. Heb. ^^mx Shi- 
hor. The word in the original has 
the import o^ black, and is applied to 
the Nile from its color when it brings 
down the slime and mud by which 
Egypt is rendered fertile. Hence it 
implies the blacky muddAi, or turbid 
river. The Greeks give to the Nile 
the name of \KVKa<; blacky and the 
Latins occasionally called it Mela 
(Serv. ad Virg. Geor. 4. 291). It was 
called Siris by the Ethiopians, the 
affinity of which with Sihor is obvi- 
ous. The version of Jerome renders 
the present passage, ' From the turbid 
river which irrigates Egypt,' and 
' the seed of Sihor,' Is. 23. 3, it also 
renders ' the seed of Nilus.' It is not 
to be denied that there are peculiar 
difficulties in making the Nile the 
southern boundary of Canaan, as the 
promised possession of the Israelites, 
but the difficulties in any other view 

are in our opinion still greater. 

IT Uivto the borders of Ekron. One of 
the five lordships — Gaza^ Ashdod, 
Askalon, Gath. and Ekron — belong- 
ing to the Philistines, and the most 
northern of all the districts they pos- 
sessed, its territory being the border 
of the land of Judah. The city of 
Ekron was situated about thirty-four 
miles west of Jerusalem, ten miles 
north-east of Ashdod, nine miles 



144 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1445. 



is counted to the Canaanite : 
^ five lords of the Philistines ; 
the Gazathites, and the Ashdo- 
thites, the Eshkalonites, the 
Gittites, and the Ekronites ; 
also ''the Av tes : 

4 From the south all the land 
of the Canaanites, and Mearah 

g Judg. 3. 3. 1 Sam. 6. 4. 16. Zeph. 2. 
5. b Deut. 2. 23. 

west by north of Gath, and ten miles 
east of the shore of the Mediterrane- 
an. It is particularly mentioned in 
Scripture as the seat of the idolatrous 
worship of Baalzebub, or the ' Lord 
of flies,' 2 Kings 1. 2, but the Divine 
prediction against it, that ' Ekron 
should be rooted up,' Zeph. 2. 4, has 
long since been accomplished, not 
even a single ruin of it remaining to 
mark the place where it stood. Am. 

1. 8. If Which is counted to the Ca- 

naanltes. Because the original pos- 
sessors of this country were the de- 
scendants of Canaan, the youngest 
son of Ham. The Philistines sprung 
from Misraim, the second son of 
Ham, and having dispossessed the 
AviteS; or A vim, from the places 
they held in this land, dwelt in their 

stead. See Gen. 10. 13, 14. ^Five 

lords. Petty princes. The term is 
put for the lordships themselv^es, just 
as king is often used for kingdom. 
The original Q^D^D sarnaimj princes, 
literally signifies axles; and so the 
Arab, for chief magistrate is Katbmi, 
axis ; because public affairs and the 
people did, as it were, revolve round 
and depend upon him, as the parts 
of a wheel upon its axis. See Note 

on ch. 9. 4. *fF Also the Avites. 

The remnant of the tribe or clan of 
the A vims said in Deut. 2. 23, to have 
been expelled by the Caphthorim. 



that is beside the Sidonians, 
'unto Aphek to the borders of 
^ the Amorites : 

5 And the land of ^ the Gib- 
lites, and all Lebanon toward 
the sun-rising, ^from Baal-Gad 
under mount Hermon unto the 
entering into Hamath. 

i ch. 19. 30. j See Judg. 1. 34. k l Kings 
5. IS. Ps. 83. 7. Ezek. 27. 9. I ch. 12.7. 



The scattered relics of this people 
remained mixed up with the five Phi- 
listine lordships above-mentioned. 

4. From the sonth, &c. The whole 
maritime country from the southern 
limits here mentioned, as far north 
as to Sidon and some of the Amorit- 
ish possessions in that quarter, is 
hereby made over in promise to Is- 
rael. Joshua himself does not appear 
to have made any conquests on the 
sea-coast. — ^Mearah. Or, Heb. 'the 
cave ;' by which Le Clerc under- 
stands the mountainous tract of 
Upper Galilee, sometimes called 
the cave- country of the Sidonians, 
abounding in caves and fastnesses, 
which served as sheltering places in 
time of war, and as asylums also for 
fcving bands of marauders. Jose- 
phus often speaks of such places in 
the bounds of the Holy Land ; and the 
Maronite monks of Canobin assured 
M. de la Roque, that among the 
mountains between which the river 
Kadisha runs, there were not less 
than eight hundred caves or grottos. 
Others suppose it to have been a 
single large and remarkable cave be- 
tween Sarepta and Sidon, described 
by William, Bishop of Tyre. This, 
however, is less likely. 

5. The land of the Gihlites. The 
name of a people dwelling in Gebal, 
near Sidon. 1 King 5. 18 ; Ezek. 27. 



B. C, 1445,] 



CHAPTER XIIL 



145 



6 All the inhabitants of the 
YnW-country from Lebanon unto 
""Misrephoth-maim, and all the 
Sidonians, them "will I drive 

m ch. 11. 8. n See ch. 23. 13. Judg. 2. 
21, 23. 



9. Their land ^^s not given to the 
Israelites, because it lay icitkout the 
precincts of Canaan. From among 
this people, Solomon employed a 
number of artists in the erection of 
ihe temple, 1 Kings 5, 18, They 
were also famed for ship-bnilding, 
Ezek. '21, 9. It is supposed by many 
that the modern Byblus is the same 
as the ancient Gebal. They were 
certainly situated in the same re- 
gion. 

6. Them will I drive out. The 
original is emphatic ; ' It is / that 
will do it ; I who have all power, and 
am ever faithful ; I who have prom- 
ised, and can and w^ill perform.' 
Chal. ' I will do it by my "Word ;' i. e. 
by my eternal Word, the Captain of 
the Lord's hosts. This, however, 
like other similar declarations, is to 
be understood conditionally. God 
never promised to put them in pos- 
session of the whoJe land, but upon 
condition of their fidelity to him. If 
they failed in obedience, they would 
fail in becoming masters of the coun- 
try. Accordingly we find that they 
never did actually possess the ivhole 
land here assigned to them. The 
Sidonians were never expelled by the 
Israelites, and were only brought 
into a state of comparative subjection 
in the days of David and Solomon. 
Joshua, however, notwithstanding 
the cavils of infidels, actually did aV. 
that it was promised he should do. 
God never said that he should con- 
quer all the land, but simply that he 
13 



out from before the children of 
Israel : only ° divide thou it by- 
lot unto the Israelites for an in- 
heritance, as I have commanded 
thee 

o €h. J4. 1, 2. 

should bring Israel into it, and divide 
it among them, both which he did, 
and procured them footing by his 
conquests sufiicient to have enabled 
them to establish themselves in it for 
ever. Their failure to do so was 
owing vv'hoUy to themselves. So we 
must work out our salvation, de- 
pending upon God to work in us, and 
to work with us. We must resist our 
spiritual enemies, and look to God to 

trample them under our feet. 

H Ojily divide thou it by lot, Heb. 
ni'^&n hap'piUy&h. cast it^ cause it to 
fall. See Note on Gen. 25. 18. A 
phra-seology derived from the casting 
of the lots by which its distribution 
w^as governed. Joshua, no doubt, 
supposed that the land was first to be 
conquered, before it was divided, but 
here his mistake is corrected. The 
great Proprietor would have his peo- 
ple consider the country as even now 
theirs, and as a pledge of his purpose 
to give it them, directs that without 
further delay it be forthwith appor- 
tioned out among the tribes. This 
order would not only strengthen their 
assurance of the final possession of 
the land, but serve also as an incen- 
tive to prosecute the work of con- 
quest w^ith fresh vigor, and to keep 
themselves from all leagues, and 
every kind of entangling connexion 
which might obstruct the attainment 
of their ultimate object. So the ex- 
ercise of a lively faith puts the Chris- 
tian even now in possession of the 
heavenly Canaan, the land of his 



146 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1445. 



7 Now therefore divide this 
land for an inheritance unto the 
nine tribes, and the haif-lribe 
of Manasseh, 

8 With whom the Reubenites 
and the Gadites have received 
their inheritance, ^ which Moses 
gave them, beyond Jordan east- 
ward, even as Moses the ser- 
vant of the Lord gave them ; 

P Num. 32. 33. Deut. 3. 12, 13. ch. 22. 4. 

eternal inheritance. Of all such it 
may be truly said j — 

'They view the triumph from afar, 
And seize it with their eye.' 

8. With whom. Heb. 1725^ ivurio, 
with him, i. e. with the other half- 
tribe of Manasseh, who w^re to have 
no part in Canaan proper, as their 
inheritance had already fallen to 
them, on the other side of Jordan. 
The relative is put for an antecedent, 
which is to be supplied from the gen- 
eral tenor of the narrative, as in 
Num. 7. 89; Ps. 114. 2; Is. 8. 21-, 
Jer. 1. 3. The speaker here and 
henceforward is not God, whose 
words terminate with v. 7, but the 
historian, who takes occasion to re- 
hearse the allotment made by Moses 
to the two tribes and a half on the 
other side Jordan, in order that the 
reader might understand the reason 
why nothing is said of them in the 
distribution now to be made by Josh- 
ua, but the whole land on this side 
the river is ordered to be given to the 
nine tribes and a half. The other 
two and a half had been already pro- 
vided for; and the restatement of the 
fact here, in the formal record of tlie 
division of the land, w^ould serve to 
ratify, in the strongest manner, the 
grant formerly made by Moses. As 
he had settled the affair, so Joshua 



9 From Aroer that is upon the 
jbank of the river Arnon, and 

the city that is in the midst of 
the river, "^and all the plain of 
Medeba unto Dibon ; 

10 And ' all the cities of Sihoa 
king of the Amorites, which 
reigned in Heshbon, unto the 
border of the children of Am- 
mon ; 

q ver. 16. Num. 21. 30. r Num. 21. 24,25. 



w^ould leave it. He would not alter 
what Moses had done, and the reason 
why he w^ould not, is intimated in 
the fact that Moses was ' the servant 
of the Lord,' faithful in all his house, 
and acting in this matter by a secret 
direction from him. 

9. The city that is in the midst of 
the river. For the true meaning of 
the expression, 'in the midst of the 
river,' see Note on ch. 12. 2. Judg- 
ing from the reports of travellers, 
we see no reason to believe that such 
an inconsiderable stream as Arnon, 
a mere rivulet, contained an island 
large enough for the site of a city. 
These verses, from v. 9 to 14, com- 
prise a general description of the 
ivhole country given to the tAVO tribes 
and a half. The remainder of the 
chapter is occupied with a detailed 
account of the several districts allot- 
ted to each. Here, in v. 9, taking 
' city ' and ' river,' according to the 
common Heb. idiom, as the collect, 
sing, for the plur., w^e conceive the 
wTiter's drift is to say, ' that begin- 
ning at Aroer, Moses gave t-o the 
tw^o tribes and a half all the cities 
lying between the several rivers men- 
tioned ch. 12. 1, 2, together with all 
the plain or champagne country of 
Medeba, even to Dibpn. These, in 
1 e next verse, are called the cities 



B. C. 1445.] 



CHAPTER XIII. 



147 



1 1 ' And Gilead, and the bor- 
der of the Geshurites and Ma- 
achathites, and all mount Her- 
mon, and all Bashan unto Sal- 
cah ; 

12 All the kingdom of Og in 
Bashan, which reigned in Ash- 
taroth and in Edrei, who re- 
mained of ' the remnant of the 
giants. " For these did Moses 
smite, and cast them out. 

13 Nevertheless, the children 

s ch. 12. 5. t Dewt. 3. 11. cli. 12. 4. 
" Numb. 21. 24, 35. 

of Sihon, because they lay within his 
territories. 

13. The ckildren of Israel expelled 
not the Gesfitirites.^ &c. Spoken ap- 
parently by way of reflection upon 
the Israelites who succeeded Moses, 
for their remissness in driving out 
these nations. The failure of Mo- 
ses to make a clean riddance of 
them at his first conquest, might be 
entirely excusable, as he was intent 
upon reaching Canaan, and could not 
well subject himself to the delay ne- 
cessary for their complete extermi- 
nation. But this plea would not hold 
after Canaan was entered. The 
tribes ought to have gone forward at 
once and finished the work which 
Moses had begun. Instead of this, 
it is related, to their disgrace, that 
they still suffered these people to 
dwell among them down to the time 
when this history was written. The 
spirit of inspiration discovers, if we 
may so speak, a wonderful tact, both 
in administering censure and bestow- 
ing praise. Instances of both, man- 
aged with the most consummate skill, 
abound in the compass of the sacred 
scrip-tures. 

14. Unto the tribe of Levi he gave 



of Israel expelled ^not the 
Geshurites, nor the Maacha- 
thites : but the Geshurites and 
the Maachathites dwell among 
the Israelites unto this day. 

14 ^Only unto the tribe of Le- 
vi he gave none inheritance ; 
the sacrifices of the Lord God 
of Israel made by fire are their 
inheritance, ^as he said unto 
them . 

15 TT And Moses gave unto the 

X ver. 11. y Numb. 18. 20,23,24. ch. 14. 
3, 4. ^ ver. 33. 



no inheritance. See on Num. 18, 

20-24. ^ The sacrifices made by 

fire. The term is to be understood 
in a large sense, including not only 
all the oblations of which any part 
was burnt, but also the first fruits and 
tithes assigned to the Levites for their 
support. This is repeated again v. 
43, to intimate that the Levites had 
as good a title to their tithes and per- 
quisites, as the rest of their brethren, 
had to their estates, and also to en- 
join upon the tribes a cheerful and 
conscientious compliance with th« 
will of God in this respect. With- 
holding their dues from the Levites 
he considered as no less than actually 
robbing himself. 

15. Moses gave unto the tribe of the 
children of Reuben. The writer now 
enters upon a minute specification 
of the portions assigned by lot to the 
tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half 
tribe of Manasseh. This is very ful 
ly and exactly detailed. On this 
mode of assigning to the children 
their inheritances, and on this ac- 
count of it, it may be remarked, (1) 
That it was the most equitable and 
satisfactory method that could be 
adopted. Had the distribution been 



148 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1446. 



tribe of the children of Reuben 
inheritance according to their 
families. 

16 And their coast was ^from 
Aroer that is on the bank of the 
river Arnon, ^and the city that 
is in the midst of the river, 
° and all the plain by Medeba : 

17 Heshbon, and all her cities 
that are in the plain ; Dibon, and 
^ Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal- 
meon, 

18 ^ And Jahaza, and Kede- 
moth, and Mephaath, 

a ch. 12. 2. b Numb. 21. 28. c Numb. 
21. 30. ver. 9. d Numb. 32. 38. e Numb. 
21.23. 

made by arbitrary appointment, as all 
could not receive portions equally 
good, some would probably have 
complained that their brethren were 
better dealt by than themselves. Di- 
viding the land by lot, therefore, by 
cutting oiFall pretence for the charge 
of favoritism on the part of Moses, 
was the readiest way of satisfying all 
parlies, and preventing discontent and 
discord. (2) The several allotments 
are here very minutely detailed in 
order that litigation growing out of 
disputed boundaries might ever after 
be prevented. When the limits of 
each tribe were so clearly settled, 
there could be little room for contend- 
ing claims, or if there were, an au- 
thentic register of the lot of each 
tribe would be at hand to be appealed 
to for a decision, and there is no doubt 
that it was often made use of in after 
ages for this purpose. We cannot 
but learn from this the great impor- 
tance of devising every prudent me- 
thod to prevent litigations about pro- 
perty. (3) The reading of this account 
by succeeding generations would 



19 ^ And Kirjathaim, and ^ Sib- 
mah, and Zareth-shahar in the 
mount of the valley, 

20 And Beth-peor, and ^ Ash- 
doth-pisgah,and Beth-jeshimoth, 

21 'And all the cities of the 
plain, and all the kingdom of 
Sihon king of the Amorites 
which reigned in Heshbon, 
Hvhom Moses smote ''with the 
princes of Midian, Evi, and Re- 
kem, and Zur, and Hur, and 
Reba, which were dukes of Si- 
hon, dwelling in the country. 

f Numb. 32. 37. ff Numb. 32. 38. h Deut. 
3. 17. ch. 12. 3. i Deut. 3. 10. j Numb. 
21.24. k Numb. 31.8. 



tend to excite a very deep and lively 
impression of the goodness of God 
in bestov/ing upon their ancestors, 
for the benefit of their posterity, such 
a large and fertile country, an inher- 
itance so replete with all the worldly 
blessings which heart could wish. 
' God's grants look best, when we de- 
scend to the particulars.' Henry. 

IT According to their families. As 
every tribe had its inheritance divid- 
ed by lot ; so it is probable, that af- 
terwards the subdivisions to every 
family and each individual were 
regulated in the same manner. Thus 
their estates would descend to poster- 
ity, not so much as the inheritance 
of their fathers, as that which the 
Lord had immediately assigned them. 
They could thus say, with the Psalm- 
ist, Ps. 16. 5, 6, ' The Lord is the 
portion of mine inheritance and of my 
cup : thou maintainest my lot. The 
lines are fallen nnto me in pleasant 
places ; I have a goodly heritage.' 

21. Dukes of Sihon. Probably so 
called because they had been his tri- 
butaries, subject to his jurisdiction. 



B. C. 1445.] 



CHAPTER Xlll. 



149 



22 IT ^ Balaam also the son of 
Beor, the soothsayer, did the 
children of Israel slay with the 
sword, among them that were 
slain by them. 

23 And the border of the chil- 
dren of Reuben was Jordan, 
and the border thereof. This 
was the inheritance of the chil- 
dren of Reuben, after their fam- 
ilies, the cities and the villages 
thereof. 

24 And Moses gave inherit- 
ance unto the tribe of Gad, even 
unto the children of Gad accord- 
ino; to their families. 

25 ™And their coast was Ja- 
zer, and all the cities of Gilead, 
"and half the land of the chil- 
dren of Ammon, unto Aroer that 
is before ° Rabbah ; 

26 And from Heshbon unto 
Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim ; 
and from Mahanaim unto the 
border of Debir ; 

27 And in the valley, ^Beth- 
aram, and Beth-nimrali, ''and 
Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest 
of the kin2:dom of Sihon kino- 
of Heshbon, Jordan and his bor- 

1 Num. 22. 5, and 31. 8. m Num. 32. 25. 
n Compare Num. 21. 26, 28, 29, with Deut. 
2. 19, and Judg. 11. 13, 15. «fec 
1, and 12. 26. p Num. 32. 36. 



o 2 Sam. 11. 
q Gen. 33. 17. 



Kinjrs 7. 46. 



They are indeed called ' kings of 
Midian ' in Num. 31. 8, but by ' kings ' 
in the sacred writings we are often 
to understand no more than mere pet- 
ty chieftains, who might be at the 
same time subject to some more po- 
tent sovereign. See Gen. 14. 1, 2. 

22. Balaam also — did the children 
of Israel slay. He fell with those 
who instigated him to his wicked- 
ness. ' This was recorded before, 
13* 



der, even unto the edge 'of the 
sea of Cinnereth, on the other 
side Jordan eastward. 

28 This is the inheritance of 
the children of Gad after their 
families, the cities, and their 
villages. 

29 IF And Moses gave inherit- 
ance unto the half-tribe of Ma- 
nasseh : and this was the posses- 
sion of the half-tribe of the chil- 
dren of Manasseh by their fam- 
ilies. 

30 And their coast was from 
Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the 
kingdom of Og king of Bashan, 
and ^ all the towns of Jair, which 
are in Bashan, threescore cities : 

31 And half Gilead, and ^ Ash- 
taroth, and Edrei, cities of the 
kingdom of Og in Bashan, were 
pertaining unto the children of 
Machir the son of Manasseh, 
even to the one half of the " chil- 
dren of Machir by their families. 

32 These are the countries 
which Moses did distribute for 
inheritance in the plains of Mo- 
ab, on the other side Jordan by 
Jericho eastward. 

33 ""But unto the tribe of Levi, 

r Num. 34. 11. s Num. 32. 41. 1 Chron. 
2. 23. t ch. 12. 4. u Num. 32. 39, 40. x ver. 
14. ch. 18. 7. 

Num. 31. 8, but is repeated here, be- 
cause the defeating of Balaam's pur- 
pose to curse Israel was the turning 
of that curse into a blcvssing, and was 
sucli an instance of the power and 
goodness of God as was fit to be had 
in everlasting remembrance.' Henry^ 
Divine justice knows well how to 
put the brand of perpetual infamy 
upon those who sin, like Balaam, 
against light and knowledge. 



150 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



Moses gave not amj inheritance : 
the Lord God of Israel was 
their inheritance, ^ as he said un- 
to them. 

CHAPTER XIV, 

AND these are the countries 
which the children of Israel 
inherited in the land of Canaan, 
"which Eleazar the priest, and 
Joshua the son of Nun, and the 
heads of the fathers of the tribes 
of the children of Israel distri- 
buted for inheritance to them. 

y Num 18. 20. Deut. 10. 9, and 18. 1, 2. 
a Num. 34. 16, 18. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

1. These are the countries, &c. The 
historian having, in the preceding 
chapter, given an account of the dis- 
posal of the countries on the other 
side of Jordan, comes now to state 
the allotments made to the remaining 
nine tribes and a half in the bounds 
of Canaan proper. The directions 
which Moses had formerly given, 
Num. 36. 53-56, respecting the mode 
of making this distribution, are now 
to be punctually observed. Previous- 
ly to entering upon the account of 
this division, the writer premises two 
or three things which fall in here 
more properly than any where else, 
as that the Levites were not compre- 
hended in the grant made to the 
tribes; that the tribe of Joseph was 
reckoned as two ; and that Caleb had 
given to him at his request a certain 
tract of country which had been be- 
fore promised by Moses. IT The 

heads of the fathers of the tribes. That 
is, heads or chief men among the 
lathers of the tribes. These were 
twelve in number, including Joshua 
and Eleazar. They had been before 



2 ^ By lot was their inheritance, 
as the Lord commanded by the 
hand of Moses, for the nine 
tribes, and /or the half-tribe. 

3 ^For Moses had given the 
inheritance of two tribes and an 
half-tribe on the other side Jor- 
dan : but unto the Levites he 
gave none inheritance among 
them. 

4 For '^the children of Joseph 
were two tribes, Manasseh and 
Ephrahn : therefore they gave 
no part unto the Levites in the 

'• Num. 26. 35, and 33. 54, and 34. 13. c ch. 
13. 8, 32, 33, d Gen. 48. 5. 1 Chron. 5. 1, 2. 

expressly appointed by Moses, Num. 
34. 19. This was done that every 
tribe, having a representative of its 
own, might be satisfied that there 
was fair dealing, and might conse- 
quently abide more contentedly by 
its lot. 

2, Bif lot was their inheritance. 
This distribution by lot was overrul- 
ed by a special providence, so as to 
correspond with the inspired predic- 
tions of Jacob and Moses, respecting 
the allotment of each tribe. The fact 
is very remarkable, yet unquestiona- 
ble, that the tribes found themselves 
placed by lot in the very sections of 
the country, which Jacob had fore- 
told two hundred and fifty years be- 
fore, and Moses shortly before his 
death, Comp. Gen. 49, and Deut. 
33. To Judah fell a country abound- 
ing in vineyards and fasturts; to 
Zebulon, sea-coasts ; to Issachar, a 
rich plain beticeen ranges of moun- 
tains ; to Asher, one abounding in 
plenty of ^^7, wheat, and metals ; and 
so of the others. See Masius and 
Calmet for more particular details. 

4. The children of Joseph icere two 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XIV. 



151 



land, save cities to dwell in^ 
with their suburbs ibr their cat- 
tle, and tor their substance, 

5 ''As the Lord commanded 
Moses, so the children of Israel 
did, and they divided the land. 

6 IT Then the children of Ju- 
dah came unto Joshua in Gil- 

e Num. 35. 2. ch. 21. 2. 

trides. That is, had a double portion 
or the porlion of two tribes. By Jo- 
seph's being reckoned two tribes, the 
nadon was made to consist of twelve 
tribes, though Levi was excluded. 

5 . A fid they d i v ided the land, T hey 
entered upon the business of dividing 
it; they look the preliminary meas- 
ures; they consulted together and 
settled the manner in which it should 
be done i he actual dividing took 
place afterwards. The Scriptures 
often speak oi that as done, which is 
merely begun or resolved upon. It 
must have required a considerable 
lime to make all the geographical 
arrangements necessary for this pur- 
pose. 

6. Then the children of JicdoJi came. 
'■ Then ' — while they were at Gilgal, 
preparing to make the division^ which 
it seems was finished at Shilo, ch. 
18. 1. The thread of the narrative 
is again interrupted to introduce the 
digression concerning the allotment 
of Caleb. The children of Judah, 
that is, probably, the heads and chief 
men, accompanied Caleb, who be- 
longed to the same tribe, in order to 
testify their consent to the measure, 
and to aid and countenance him in 
obtaining the object of his request. 
As Caleb was one of the twelve 
whom God had chosen to superin- 
tend the partition of the land, Num. 
34 12, it might seem, if he came un- 



gal : and Ca'eb the son of Je- 
phunneh the *^Kenezite said unto 
him, Thou knowest ^the things 
that the Lord said unto Moses 
the man of God concerning me 
and thee ''in Kadesh-barnea. 
7 Forty years old was I when 

f Nu.u. 32. 12. and ch. 15. 17. g Num. 
14. 24. 30. Deut. 1. 36, 38. h Num. 13. 26. 

attended, that he designed to take 
advantage of his authority as a com- 
missioner to promote his private in- 
terest ; he therefore takes his breih- 
ren along with him to preclude any 
such imputation. Some suppose that 
this transaction took place previous 
to the siege and capture of Hebron, 
related ch. 10. 36, 37, and that the ex- 
pediiion detailed in its minute partic- 
ulars, in ch. 15. 13-15, is there barely 
touched upon, or described in the 
most general manner. The fact, 
however, that the application of Ca- 
leb was made to Joshua at Gilgal, 
and not while he was pursuing his 
conquests over the south of Canaan, 
seems decisiv^e against this opinion. 

TT Thou knoicest the things &c. 

Caleb probably alludes to what is 
said Num. 14. 24, ' But my servant 
Caleb him will I bring into the land 
whereinlo he w^ent ; and his seed 
shall possess it.' Deut. 1. 36, ' Caleb 
the son of Jephunneh, to him will I 
give the land that he hath trodden 
upon, and to his children, because 
he hath wholly followed the Lord.' 
This seems to be spoken, not of the 
land of promise in general, but of 
some particular district to which he 
had p mt trated when sent out by Mo- 
ses. This, undoubtedly, was Hebron, 
Num. 13. 22, and was so understood 
by all parties at the time. The prom- 
ise then made by God to Moses he 



152 



JOSHUA, 



fB. C. 1444. 



Moses the servant of the Lord 
*sent me from Kadesh-barnea to 
espy out the land ; and I brought 
him word again as it ivas in 
mine heart. 

8 Nevertheless, ^my brethren 
that vrent up with me made the 
heart of the people melt : but I 
wholly ^followed the Lord my 
God. 

i Num. 13. 6, and 14. 6. k Num. 13. 31, 
32. Deut. 1. 28. l Num. M. 24. Deut. 
1. 36. 

now pleads; and what can be more 
confidently expected than the fulfil- 
ment of his gracious word 1 There 
is more presumption in declining and 
neglecting his promises, than in urg- 
ing their performance. 

7. Brought him word again as it 
was in mine heart. Made a true and 
honest statement ; spake sincerely ; 
Tittered the real sentiments of my 
heart. His conscience bore him wit- 
ness, and now enabled him to say, 
that ne]l\iQT fear D.OT favor influenced 
him on the occasion ; he told what 
he believed to be the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth. It 
has been remarked in this connexion, 
that Caleb's name signifies, accord- 
ing to the heart. 

8. Iioholly folloicedtheLord. Heb. 
niil'^ ""inj^ "ini^i^S millethi ahari 
Yehovah^ fulfilled after the Lord. 
Arab. ' I perfected my obedience be- 
fore the Lord my God/ On the im- 
port of this expression, see Note on 
Num. 14. 24. The energy of the 
expression is well preserved in our 
version. The words give the idea 
of a traveller, who, intent upon fol- 
lowing his guide, so treads in his 
steps, as to leave hardly any void 
space between. As he had obtained 
this testimony from God himself, it 



9 And Moses sware on that 
day, saying, ""Surely the land 
" whereon thy feet have trodden 
shall be thine inheritance, and 
thy children's for ever ; because 
thou hast wholly followed the 
Lord my God, 

10 And noWj behold, the Lord 
hath kept me alive, °as he said, 
these forty and five years, even 

m Num. 14. 23, 24. Deut. 1. 3S. ch. L 
3. n See Num. 13. 22. • Num. 14. 30. 

was not vain-glory for him to speak 
of it, especially as this was the main 
ground on which he had become en- 
titled to the object of his petition. It 
is not pride, but simply a tribute of 
due acknowledgment, to declare what 
a gracious God has done for us and 
by us. It was peculiarly to the bono? 
of Caleb that he maintained such an 
unbending fidelity to God when his 
brethren and associates in that ser- 
vice, except Joshua, proved so faith- 
less and faint-hearted. ' It adds much 
to the praise of following God, if we 
adhere to him when others desert and 
decline from him.' Henry. 

9. Moses sicare on that day. See 
Num. 14. 24; Deut. 1. 36. In these 
passages God himself is the speaker; 
and it is he that swears according to 
the words here recited. But as Moses 
was the organ through whom the as- 
sured proiiiise was conveyed, the 

swearing is attributed to him. 

•ff The land whereon thy feet have 
trodden. Not the land of Canaan in 
general, but this particular, this iden- 
tical district. See on v. Qt. 

10. Hath kept me alive. Heb. 
'^rni^ n*^rin heheyah othi, hath vivi- 
fied me. See on ch. 6. 25. Accord- 
ing to our previous interpretation, it 
implies that he was kept alive, whea, 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XIV. 



163 



since the Lord spake this word 
unto Moses, Avhile the children 
of Israel wandered in the wil- 
derness : and now, lo, I am this 
day fourscore and five years old. 
11 P As yet I am as strong this 
day, as / was in the day that 

P See Deut. 34. 7. 

in the ordinary course of things, he 
wouhl have been dead; that it was 
in despite of the tendencies of nature 
to decay and dissolution that he now 
stood among the living in so much 
health and strength. His present ex- 
istence was a kind of resurrection 
from the dead. The longer we live, 
the more sensible should we be of the 
special upholding hand of Providence 
in prolonging our frail and forfeited 

lives. ^ These forty and fixe years. 

Of which thirty-eight were spent in 
the wilderness, and seven in the pro- 
secution of the wars in Canaan. 

IT Wandered in the wilderness. Heb. 
^in halak^icalked. As a panishment 
for their unbelief and rebellion. 



IF Lo^ I am this day four score and 
five years old. Heb. ' a son of four- 
score and five years.' Caleb was 
now, with the exception of Joshua, 
not only the oldest man in all Israel, 
but was twenty years older than any 
of them; for all that were above 
twenty w^hen he was forty, had died 
in the wilderness. ' It was fit, there- 
fore, that this phoenix of his age 
should have some particular marks 
of honor put upon him in the divid- 
ing of the land.' Henry. 

11. ^s my strength was then, so is 
my strength note. My ability not 
only for counsel, but for action, re- 
mains unimpaired ; I am as compe- 
tent as ever for the hard services 
and difficult exploits of war. He 



Moses sent me : as my strength 
was then, even so is my strength 
now, for war, both ''to go out, 
and to come in. 

12 Now therefore give me this 
mountain, wherefore the Lord 
spake in that day ; for thou 

q Deut. 31. 2. 

mentions this, both to give glory to 
God who was the strength as well as 
the length of his days, and also to 
intimate to Joshua that it would not 
be throwing away a portion upon a 
weak old man, who was unequal to 
the task of either taking or retaining 
it. On the contrary, even if it w^ere 
to be taken from the hands of giants, 
and should require the utmost prow- 
ess, energy and nerve of the youthful 
warrior, he was still able to put it 
forth. He was not afraid to cope at 
eighty w'ith the same power w^hich 
he would readily have encountered 
at forty. — If we would make sure of 
a ' green old age,' let us begin early 
to follow the Lord fully. It is usu- 
ally the excesses of youth which 
bring on the premature decay of the 
bodily and mental powers. It is pre- 
cisely that sobriety, temperance, and 
moderation which religion enjoins, 
that secures to us the longest contin- 
uance and the highest enjoyment of 
life, health, and strength ; and these 
habits cannot begin to be practised 

too early. ^Both to go out and to 

come in. A proverbial phrase, equiv"- 
alent to performing all the duties be- 
longing to an official station. See 
on Num. 27. 17. 

12. Give me this mountain. Not 
any particular mountain, but this 
mountainous tract oi region; for 
such was eminently the country 
about Hebron. He does not mention 



154 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444 



heardest m that day how ''the 
Anakims were there, and that 
the cities i/jere great and fenced : 



, Nnm. 13. 28, 33 

and cannot mean the city of Hebron 
alone, which had been before taken 
by Joshua, but he included in his re- 
quest all the adjacent country, to the 
caves and strongholds of which the 
Anakim had retired, and where they 
were now abiding in considerable 
force. The city itself fell afiervvards 
to the lot of the Levites, ch. 21. 13, 
and became a city of refuge, ch. 20 
7. * When Caleb had it, he content- 
ed himself with the country about it, 
and cheerfully gave the city to the 
priests, the Lord's ministers j think- 
ing it could not be better bestowed, 
210, not upon his own children, nor 
that it Avas the less bis own for being 
thus devoted to God.' Henry. He- 
bron, at a still later period, became a 
royal city, being ixiade in the begin- 
ning of David's reign the meiropoMs 
of the kingdom of Judah.-- — ff For 
thou heardest — how the Anakims were 
there. This, it would seem, was the 
place from which more than any 
other the spies took their unfavorable 
report ; for here they met with the 
sons of Anak, the sight of whom so 
much intimidated them. 'We may 
suppose that Caleb, observing what 
stress they laid upon the difficulty of 
conquering Hebron, a ci'y garrisoned 
by the giants, and bow from thence 
they inferred that the conquest of the 
w^hole land was n'Aetly imprrrJca- 
hie, bravely desired to have ihat city 
which they called iniincible ass'gned 
to himself for hi^ own por:ian ; " I 
will undertake to deal Aviih that, and 
if I cannot get it for mv inhpritrnce, 



' if so be the Lord will he with 
me, then ^ I shall be able to drive 
them out, as the Lord said. 

s Ps. 18. 32, 34, and 60. l2. Rom. 8. 3h 
t ch. 15. 14. Judg. 1.20. 



1 will do without." " Well," said Mo- 
ses, "it shall be thine own then, win 
it and wear it." Henry. Such is the 
spirit of the true Christian hero. All 
indeed are not such, but some are j 
and he who is, is not only willing, 
but forward, in the strength of God^ 
to encounter the most formidable en- 
emies and the most apparently insu- 
perable obstacles in working out the 
will of his heavenly Master. If there 
is any enterprise of peculiar difficul- 
ty to be undertaken, or any post of 
especial danger to be occupied, he is 
prompt to volunteer his services for 
the occasion. Not that he courts the 
perilous work^ merely for the pur^ 
pose of a vain-glorioCis display of 
courage or skill, but because he wish- 
es to honor God by his faith ; to give 
him an opportunity^ through such an 
humble instrument, to glorify his 
great name and confound the infidel- 
ity of his enemies and his timorous 
friends. In one w^ho feels the mis- 
sionary impulse, this Caleb-like spirit 
will prompt to a fearless survey of 
the whole fields and if there be any 
spot which is at once promising and 
yet appalling, desirable and yet dread- 
ful ; a spot where the greatest force 
of heathen opposition is concentrated, 
that is the spot which will be really 
I most attractive in his eye. Its diffi- 
I culties and dangers will be among 
jits highest recommei]datic)Ds. Thii* 
j spiiit shone conspicuously in Paul 
' in the v.iiole con re of his li/e and 
i TaboT^.. and on one acca^fon we see 
' it nobiy expressirg itself in so many 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XV. 



155 



13 And Joshua "blessed him, 
*and gave unio Caleb the son 
of Jepiiunneh, Hebron for an in- 
heritance. 

14 ^'Hebron therefore became 
the inheritance of Caleb the son 
of .iephunneh the Kenezite unto 
this day ; because that he Vholly 
followed the Lord God of Israel. 

u ch. 22. 6. X ch. 10. 37, and 15. 13. Judg. 
i. 20. JSee ch. 21. 11, 12. 1 Chron. b. 55, bo. 
y cti. 21. 12. z xer. 8, 9. 

words, when he bays of Ephesus, ' A 
great and efiectLial door is opened 
unto me, and many adversuries.' The 
* adv^ersaries ' were no doubt among 
the special inducements that prompt- 
ed him to enter that field. It is cause 
of gratitude to God that there are 
such spirits still to be found in the 
world, and that as long as there shall 
be sons of Anak on earih to intimi- 
date the fearful, there shall he also 
sons of Caleb to grapple with and de- 
stroy them. V, If so be the Ijord 

will be with me, &c. Chal. 'Perhaps 
the Word of the Lord will be for my 
help.' The ardor of a bold native 
temperament is here moderated by 
the workings of a spirit of conscious 
tin worthiness and of humble depend- 
ence on the Divine blessing. Caleb 
in these words virtually acknow- 
ledges that the battle is not to the 
strong nor the race to the swift, and 
that the favorable presence of God 
with as in our undertakings is all in 
all to our success. The expression 
is not to be understood as implying 
any doubt in his mind of God^s read- 
iness to assist him, but simply as a 
disclaimer of exclusive reliance on 
his own unaided prowess. It is the 
language of one who feels that an 
arm of flesh, even all the forces of 
Israel combined, without the blessing 



15 And "the name of Hebron 
before was Kirjath-arba ; which 
Arha vms a great man among 
the Anakims. ^And the land 
had rest from war. 

CHAPTER XV. 

rwiHIS then was the lot of 

-^ the tribe of the children 

of Judah by their families ; °- even 

a Gen. 23. 2. ch. 15. 13. b ch. 11. 23. 
;^ Num. 34. 3. 

of heaven, would be powerless to ac- 
complish the desired result. 

13. A'fid JosMta blessed him. That 
is, not only granted his request, but 
applauded his brave and enterprise 
ing spirit, and implored the bkssing 
of God upon him in reference to his 
proposed undertaking. 

15. Kirjath-ctrba, Thsit is, the city 
of Arba, the name of an individual 
distinguished either for his remark- 
able bodily stature and strength, or 
his power and authority, or perhaps 

both, among the Anakims. ^And 

the land had rest from icar. There 
were no more general wars. The 
inhabitants of Canaan could make 
no longer any head against the power 
of Israel. Being disjointed and 
broken, they could no longer rally in 
such force as to make it necessary 
for the whole Israelitish body to go 
against them in a general campaign. 
This may be considered as the gen- 
uine sense of the expression, though 
it be admitted that there were after- 
wards particular wars, arising from 
the attempts of each tribe to expel 
the ancient inhabitants still remain- 
ing in their respective territories. 



CHAPTER XV. 

1. This then was the lot, &c. The 
account of the partition of the land 



166 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



to the border of Edom, the ^ wil- 
derness of Zin southward was 



b Num. 33. 26. 



which was commenced ch. 14, 1-5, 
was interrupted by ilie mention of 
Caleb's application to Joshua for He- 
bron as his inheritance, and that 
being dispatched, the writer here re- 
turns from the digression, and re- 
sumes the thread of his narrative re- 
specting the allotment of the tribes. 
The manner in which the designed 
partition should be made, had already 
been settled by Divine appointment. 
Num. 26. 25, ' The land shall be 
divided by lot : according to the 
names of their fathers shall they in- 
herit.' In obedience to this command 
Joshua now proceeds. On this part 
of the history it may be remarked, 
(1) That the business of casting lots 
on this occasion was undoubtedly 
conducted with great seriousness and 
solemnity, and wiih devout prayer to 
God, whose is the disposal of the lot, 
that he would overrule it all to his 
own glory and the accomplishment 
of his wise purposes. (2) That al- 
though an exact survey of the land 
was not taken till some time after 
this, ch. 18. 4, 5, yet some general 
view of it must have been obtained, 
and some rude draught have been 
spread before them, sufficient, at 
least, to have enabled them to divide 
the land into nine and a half portions, 
with more or less accuracy. (3) 
That the respective lots did not, at 
this time, so peremptorily and un- 
changeably determine the bounds of 
each tribe, that they could not sub- 
sequently be either contracted or en- 
larged, or otherwise altered ; for it 
is evident from what follows, ch. 19. 
9, thai after Judah's lot was fixed, 



the utterrriost part of the south 
coast. 



Simeon's was taken out of it. It 
would seem^ in fact, that the first de- 
signation of the portions of the sev- 
eral tribes was quite vague and gen- 
eral, but that the limits of each were 
afterwards adjusted and settled by 
Joshua and the elders, with as much 
precision as the nature of the case 
would admit. (4) As to the manner 
in which the casting of lots took 
place on this occasion, though v;e 
are not expressly informed, yet the 
probability is. that after the land was 
geographically divided into the re- 
quisite number of portions, these por- 
tions properly labelled, or otherwise 
distinguished, were put into one urn 
or pot, and the names of the several 
tribes into another ; that then Joshua, 
for example, piU his hand into the 
vessel containing the names of the 
tribes, and took out one slip, while 
Eleazar took out one from the other 
vessel, in which the names of the 
portions were pat ; whereupon the 
7iame drawn and the portion drawn 
being read, it was at once determined 
what portion was to be appropriated 
to such a tribe; and so of the rest. 
It is probable, however, that this plan 
was adopted, on the prese7it occasion, 
only in respect to the two large and 
principal tribes of Judah and Joseph, 
as they were now at Gilgal, and the 
division certainly was not completed 
till after they arrived at Shilo, ch. 
18. 1, 2. In reference, therefore, to 
this mode of drawing out the lots 
from the bottom of the urns, the phra- 
seology of a lot's ' coming up ' or 
^coming forth,' became established. 
IT The lot of the tribe of the children 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XV. 



157 



2 And their south border was 
from the shore of the salt sea, 

of Judah. By the .special disposition 
of providence the lot of Judah came 
up first, in token of the pre-eminence 
of that tribe over the rest. This dis- 
tinction hereby received the Divine 

sanction. ^ Even to the border of 

Edom. The geography of the sacred 
writings presents many difficulties, 
occasioned by the many changes 
which the civil state of the promised 
land has undergone, especially for 
the last two thousand years. Many 
of the ancient towns and villages 
hav^e . had their names so totally 
changed, that their former appella- 
tions are no longer discernible ; sev- 
eral lie buried under their own ruins ; 
and others have been so long destroy- 
ed that not one vestige of them re- 
mains. On these accounts, it is very 
difficult to ascertain the situation of 
many of the places mentioned in this 
and the following chapters. Yet the 
ancient appellations of many of these 
localities may still be detected in 
modified forms under the modern 
names, and the sites of a greater num- 
ber of them satisfactorily determined, 
than would at first seem practicable. 
This portion of the sacred story can- 
not of course be so interesting, or so 
profitable to the general reader as 
details of another character, and we 
shall not therefore enlarge upon it 
in our remarks, but as many of the 
places here mentioned are frequently 
alluded to in the subsequent history 
and the prophets, this enumeration is 
important, as enabling us oftentimes 
to determine their situation ; and it 
need not to b.: observed that the geo- 
graphy of a country is of the utmost 
importance in illustrating its history, 
14 



from the bay that looketh south- 
ward : 

The quaint remark of Henry, there- 
fore, on this subject, is deserving of 
attention, that ' we are not to skip 
over these chapters of hard nam^es, 
as useless and not to be regarded ; 
where God has a mouth to speak and 
a hand to write, we snould find an 
ear to hear and an eye to read.' As 
it respects the lot of Judah, as here 
marked out, it was bounded on the 
south by the wilderness of Sin and 
the southern coast of the Salt Sea ; 
on the east by that sea, reaching to 
the place at which it receives the 
waters of the Jordan ; on the north, 
by a line drawn nearly parallel to 
Jerusalem, across from the northern 
extremity of the Salt Sea to the south 
boundary of the Philistines and to 
the Mediterranean Sea ; which sea 
was its western boundary, as far as 
the river of Egypt. Joshua is par- 
ticular in giving the limits of this 
tribe, as being the first, the most nu- 
merous, the most important, that 
which was to furnish the kings of 
Judea, that in which pure religion 
was to be preserved, and that from 
which the Messiah was to spring. 
As this portion, however, contained 
nearly half the southern part of Ca- 
naan, it was afterwards found too 
extensive, and the possessions of 
Simeon and Dan were taken out ol it. 
2. From the bay that looketh south- 
ward. Heb. yw^ leshon, the tongue^ 
i. e. a gulf, bay, or arm of the sea. 
The like phrase occurs Is. 11. 15, 
' The Lord shall utterly destroy the 
tongue of the Egyptian Sea.' The 
southern extremity of the Dead Sea, 
as laid down in the best maps, an- 
swers in its form to this description. 



158 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



3 And it went out to the south 
side ""to Maaleh-acrabbim, and 
passed along to Zin, and ascend- 
ed up on the south side unto 
Kadesh-barnea,and passed along 
to Hezron, and went up to Adar, 
and fetched a compass to Kar- 
kaa : 

4 From thence it passed "^ to- 
ward Azmon, and went out unto 
the river of Egypt ; and the 
goings out of that coast were at 
the sea : this shall be your south 
coast. 

5 And the east border was the 
salt sea, even unto the end of 
Jordan : and their border in the 
north quarter vxis from the bay 
of the sea, at the uttermost part 
of Jordan : 

c Num. 34. 4. d Num. 34. 5. 

The term among us is generally ap- 
plied to di jutting provLontonj of land. 
3. Maaleh-acrabbim. Or, Heb. 
'the ascent of (the mount of) scor- 
pions 5' probably so called from the 
multitude of those animals found 

there. Com. Num. 34. 4. IT Ka- 

desh-Barnea. Called En-mishpat, 
Gen. 14. 7. It was on the edge of 
the wilderness of Paran, and about 
twenty-four miles from Hebron. 
Here Miriam, the sister of Moses 
and Aaron, died ; and here Moses 
and Aaron rebelled against the Lord; 
whence the place was called Meri- 
bah-Kadesh, or contention of Kadesh. 

5. Unto the end of Jordan. The 
mouth of Jordan ; the place where it 
discharges itself into the Dead Sea. 

6. Beth-arabak Heb. * house of 
solitude ;' perhaps so called from the 
loneliness and dreariness of the place. 

IT The stone of Bohan. A Reu- 

benite, and probably a distinguished 



6 And the border went up to 
^Beth-hogla, and passed along 
by the north of Beth-arabah ; 
and the border went up 'to the 
stone of Eohan the son of Reu- 
ben : 

7 And the border went up to- 
ward Debir from - the valley of 
Achor, and so northward look- 
ing toward Gilgal, that is before 
the going up to Adummim, 
which is on the south side of 
the river : and the border pass- 
ed toward the waters of En- 
shemesh, and the goings out 
thereof were at ^' Enrogel : 

8 And the border went up 'by 
the valley of the son of Hinnom, 

e ch. IS. 19. f ch. 18. 17. g ch. 7. 26. 
h 2 Sam. 17. 17. 1 Kings 1.9. 1 ch. IS. 16. 
2 Kings 23. 10. Jer. 19. 2. G. 



commander of the forces of that tribe 
which came over the Jordan. It is 
not unlikely that he died in the camp 
at Gilgal, and was buried not far oft', 
under the stone here alluded to. 

7. En-sheniesh. Heb. ' fountain of 
the sun ;' a place eastward of Jeru- 
salem, on the confines of Judah and 
Benjamin. Some conjeciure that it 
was a fountain dediJaied by the Ca- 

naaniies to the sun. IT En-rogel. 

Heb. 'fountain of the fuller;' per* 
haps from its water having afforded 
special conveniences lo those that 
exercised the craft of fullers. It is 
supposed by some to have been the 
same as the Pool of Siloam; by 
others placed further down the val- 
ley, near the south-east of Jerusalem, 
and not far from what is now called 
the Founiahi of the Blessed Virgiii^ 

8. The valUy of the son of Hinnoin. 
A valley in the vicinity of Jerusalem, 
lying probably on the south of mount 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XV. 



159 



unto the south side of the ''Je- 
busite ; the same is Jerusalem : 
and the border went up to the 
top of the mountain that lieth 
before the valley of Hinnom 
westward, which is at the end 
^ of the valley of the giants 
northward : 

9 And the border was drawn 
from the top of the hill unto 
""the fountain of the water of 
Nephtoah, and w^ent out to the 
cities of mount Ephron ; and 

k ch. ]8. 28. Jud^. 1. 21, and 19. 10. 1 ch. 
18. 16. m ch. 18. 15. 



Zion, and consequently environing 
the ancient city on tlie south side. 
Who this Hinnom was, or why it 
was called his valleyj is not known. 
This valleyj or, more properly speak- 
ing, ravine, is only about one hun* 
dred and fifty feet in breadth^ and is 
stated to have been in ancient times 
exceedingly verdant and shaded with 
trees. But from the inhuman prac- 
tices of the Hebrews, in sacrificing 
their infants at a place in it called 
Tophet, the whole valley was de- 
nounced by Jehovah, and polluted by 
Josiah, by ordure and dead men^s 
bones and every kind of filth from 
the city* After the captivity^ the 
Jews regarded this spot with abhor- 
rence, on account of the abomina- 
tions which had been practised there, 
and following the example of Josiah, 
threw into it the carcases of animals 
and the dead bodies of malefactors, 
and every species of refuse. To pre- 
vent the pestilence which such a 
mass would occasion, if left to pu- 
trify, consrant fires were kept up in 
the valley, in order to consume what 
was thrown into it. It became there- 
fore a striking type of Hell^ or that 



the border was drawn " to Baa- 
lah, which is ° Kirjath-jearim : 

10 And the border compassed 
from Baalah westward unto 
mount Seir, and passed along 
unto the side of mount Jearim 
(which is Chesalon) on the 
north side, and went down to 
Beth-shemesh, and passed on to 
p Timnah : 

11 And the border w^ent out 
unto the side of "^ Ekron north- 
ward : and the border was drawn 

n 1 Chron. 13. 6. o Judg. 18. 12. p Gen, 
38. 13. Judg. 14. 1. q ch. 19. 43. 



part of Hades where they supposed 
the souls of wicked men were pun- 
ished in eternal fire. Under this idea, 
it was ofien called Gehenna of fire $ 
the name 'Gehenna' being formed 
from the Heb. Wn }IC^^ Ge-hinnom, 
valley of Hinnom. See Barnes' 

Wotes on Mat. 6. 22. IF Valley of 

the giants. Or, Heb. d'^&^&'l rephaim^ 
of the Rephaim ; on which word see 
on Gen. 6. 4 ; Deut. 2. 7, 11. This 
valley lay about three miles to the 
southwest of Jerusalem, and appears 
to have been so called from its an- 
cient gigantic inhabitants. It was 
the theatre of several signal victories 
obtained by David over the Philis- 
tines, and was also famed for its fer- 
tility and its excellent crops of corn. 
Is. 17. 5. The road from Jerusalem, 
says Maundrellj passes through this 
valley, and in it are pointed out to 
the traveller the ruined tower of Sim- 
eon, ihe Greek monastery of Elias, 
and the tomb of Rachel. The valley 
itself is now only partially cultivated, 
and even those parts w^hich are sown 
with corn yield but a comparatively 
poor and scanty crop. ' He turneth 
a fruitful land into barrenness for 



160 



JOSHUA. 



[fi. 0. 1444. 



to Shicron, and passed along to 
mount Baalah, and went out 
unto Jabneel ; and the goings 
out of the border were at the sea. 

12 And the west border was 
''to the great sea, and the coast 
thereof : this is the coast of the 
children of Judah round about, 
according to their families. 

13 IT ^ And unto Caleb the son 
of Jephunneh he gave a part 
among the children of Judah, 
according to the commandment 
of the Lord to Joshua, even 



r ver. 47. 
t ch. 14. 15. 



Num. 34 6, 7. s ch. 14. 13. 



the wickedness of them that dwell 
therein.' 

13. And unto Caleb he gave. Or 
Heb. 'had given.' The historian 
seems pleased with every occasion 
to make mention of Caleb, and to do 
him honor, because he honored the 
Lord by following him fully. Re- 
specting this grant to Joshua, see 
notes on the preceding chapter, v. 
6-15. 

14. Drove thence the sons of Anak. 
This is doubtless mentioned here to 
show, that the confidence he had be- 
fore expressed of success in this af- 
fair, through the presence of God 
with him, did not deceive him. The 
event answered all his expectations; 
and it is here put on record at once 
to the praise of Caleb, to the glory 
of God, who never disappoints those 
that trust in him, and for the encour- 
agement of believers in all ages. On 
ihe sense of the phrase * drove out,' 
see on Judg. 1. 10. 

15. Debir — Kirjath-sepher. These 
names, the former signifying a word 
or oracle, the latter, the city of a book, 
have led some commentators to sup- 



^ the city of Arba the father of 
Anak, which city is Hebron. 

14 And Caleb drove thence 
" the three sons of Anak, "^ She- 
shai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, 
the children of Anak. 

15 And y he went up thence to 
the inhabitants of Debir : and 
the name of Debir before was 
Kirjath-sepher. 

16 ^ ^ And Caleb said, He that 
smite th Kirjath-sepher, and tak- 
eth it, to him will I give Achsah 
my daughter to wife. 

11 Jud<r. 1. 10, 20. X Num. 13. 22. y ch. 
10, 38. ^Judg. 1. 11. z Judg. 1. 12. 

pose that this city was a seat of learn- 
ing, or a repository of the records of 
the ancient inhabitants. It is not in- 
deed probable that writings and books, 
in our sense of the words, were very 
common among the Canaanites ; but 
some method of recording events and 
a sort of learning was doubtless cul- 
tivated in those regions. 

16. And Caleb said, He that smiteth, 
&c. We cannot think so ill of Caleb, 
as to suppose that this proposition 
proceeded either from cowardice or 
sloth. He did not invite another to 
achieve a difficult and dangerous ex- 
ploit because he shrunk from it him- 
self He had already evinced too 
much valor to allow of the supposi- 
tion. But his generous spirit would 
not permit him to monopolise all the 
glory of these victories. He would 
give occasion to some of his younger 
brethren to signalise their prowess 
also; and to strengthen the induce 
ment, he makes a proffer of his 
daughter in marriage to the success- 
ful combatant. Such an achievement 
would be presumptive evidence that 
the man was worthy of her, and one 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XV. 



161 



17 And '^Othniel the ^son of 
Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, 
took it : and he gav^e him Ach- 
sah his daughter to wife. 

a Judg. 1. 13, and 3. 9. b Num. 32. 12. ch. 
14 6 

who was likely to deserve well of 
his country. So Saul, in like man- 
ner, promised his daughter in mar- 
riage to him who should kill Goliath, 
1 Sam. 17. 25. Fathers, in ancient 
times, appear to have had nearly an 
absoluie power in the disposal of 
their daughters in marriage, as we 
learn from the case of Laban, and 
numerous other instances mentioned 
in the Scriptures. Caleb, however, 
could no doubt safely presume upon 
his daughter's preference coinciding 
with his, especially when such re- 
commendations existed as were sup- 
posed in the very nature of the case. 
Deeds of valor have seldom failed, 
in any age of the world, to prove a 
powerful passport to the female heart, 
although it is to be hoped that the 
force of this attraction will diminish, 
as the influence of a religion of peace 
prevails in the world. 

17. Othniel, the son of Kenaz ^ the 
brother of Caleh^ took it. It was Ke- 
naz, and not Othniel, who was the 
brother, and, as appears from Judg. 
1. 13, the younger brother of Caleb ; 
otherwise the marriage would have 
been unlawful,, or at least of question- 
able propriety. It is not at all im- 
probable, that Othniel previously en- 
tertained an affection for Achsah, so 
that he could not brook the thought 
that any one else should do more to 
win her fav^or, than he himself would. 
This prompted him unhesitatingly 
to take up the gage which Caleb had 

thrown down. The result proved 
14# 



18 'And it came to pass, as 
she came unto him^ that she 
moved him to a.sk of her father 
a field : and "^ 



he hp-hted off her 



c Judg. 1. 14. d Gen. 24. 64. I Sam. 25. 2a 



that he was worthy both of the work 
and the wages ; for he became after- 
wards a deliverer and a judge in Is- 
rael, the first single person who pre- 
sided in their affairs, after the death 
of Joshua. ' It is good for those, who 
are setting out in the world, to begin 
betimes with that which is great and 
good ; that, excelling in service when 
they are young, they may excel in 
honor when they are old.' Benrij. 

18. As sh£ came unto him. Or, Heb. 
• in her going ;' i. e. in going from 
her father's house to live with her 

husband. IT She moved him to ask. 

Gr. "' she took counsel with him, say- 
ing, I will ask.' Being on the point 
of leaving the paternal roof, she 
seized the opportunity, when a pa- 
rent's heart would naturally be tender 
and yielding, to persuade her hus- 
band to solicit an additional boon of 
her father. He readily consented to 
the request being made, but seema 
to have preferred that it should come 
from herself rather than him, as he 
would do nothing that would appear 
like taking advantage of Caleb's fa- 
vorable disposition towards his son- 
in-law. Accordingly the petition was 
made by Achsah, who, in order to 
manifest more respect and reverence 
for her father, alighted off the ani- 
mal on which she rode, and address- 
ed him in the most suppliant posture. 
On this eastern mode of expressing 
respect, see ' Illustrations of Scrip- 
ture,' p. 32, 282. 

19. Give me a hlessins. Do me an 



162 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



ass ; and Caleb said unto her, 
What wouldest thou ? 

19 Who answered, Give me a 
^ blessing ; for thou hast given 
me a south land, give me also 
springs of water : and he gave 
her the upper springs, and the 
nether springs. 

20 This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of Ju- 
dah according to their families. 

21 And the uttermost cities of 
the tribe of the children of Ju- 
dah toward the coast of Edom 
southward were Kabzee], and 
Eder, and Jagur. 

e Gen. 33. 11. 

act of kindness, grant me a special 
favor, as a gift is sometimes called a 
blessing, Gen. 33. 11 ; 2 Kings 5. 15 ; 
2 Cor. 9. 5. Or, she calls this a bless- 
ing, because it woulc! add much to 
the comfort of her settlement, and she 
was sure, since she married not only 
with her father's consent, but in obe- 
dience to his command, he would 

not deny her his blessing. IT Hast 

given me a south land. Which by 
lying exposed to the burning rays of 
the sun, and to the sultry south winds, 
was comparatively ill- watered and 

barren. IT Give me also springs of 

water. By which she meant not sim- 
ply gushing springs of water, but the 
field or fields in which they were sit- 
uated, V. 18. Chald. ' Give me a 
place moisten xl with water.' If the 
fields belonged to one, and the springs 
to another, she would of course be 

little benefited by the possession. 

^He gave her ths upper springs and the 
nether springs. B }th higher and 
lower ground ; tracts of hill and dale 
well watered. An allusion of prac- 
tical bearing is sometimes made to 



22 And Kinah, and Dimonah, 
and Adadah, 

23 And Kedesh, and Razor, 
and Ithnan, 

24 Ziph, and Telem, and Bea- 
loth, 

25 And Hazor, Hadattah, and 
Kerioth, and Hezron, which is 
Hazor, 

26 Amam, and Shema, and 
Moladah, 

27 And Hazar-gaddah, and 
Heshmon, and Beth-palet, 

28 And Hazar-shual, and Beer- 
sheba, and Bizjothjah, 

29 Baalah,and lim, andAzem, 



this, when we pray for spiritual and 
heavenly blessings, whiii relate to 
our souls as blessings of the upper 
springs, and those that relate to the 
body and the life that now is, as bless- 
ings of the nether springs. From 
this story we may learn, (1) That a 
moderate desire for the comforts and 
conveniences of this life is no breach 
of the commandment, ' Thou shalt 
not covet.' (2; That mutual consul- 
tation and joint agreement between 
husbands and wives, as touching the 
things they shall seek pertaining to 
the common good of themselves and 
their families, is the surest omen of 
success. (3) That parents should 
never think that lost which is be- 
stowed upjn their children for their 
advantage. They foYget themselves 
and their relations, who grudge their 
children what is convenient for them, 
when they can easily part with it. 

20. Th s is the inheritance, &c. He 
now returns to the description of Ju- 
dah's iiiherit iii(.e, liom the digres- 
sion made concerning Caleb and his 
family, in the preceding verses. 



B, C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XV. 



163 



30 And Eltolad, and Chesil, 
and Hormah, 

31 And ^ Ziklag, and Madman- 
nah, and Sansannah, 

32 And Lebaoth, and Shilhim, 
and Ain, and Rimmon : all the 
cities are twenty and nine, with 
their villages : 

33 And in the valley, ^Esh- 
taol, and Zoreah, and Ashnah, 

34 And Zanoah, and En-gan- 
nim, Tappuah, and Enam, 

35 Jannuth, and Adullam, So- 
coh, and Azekah, 

36 And Sharaim, and Aditha- 
im, and Gederah, and Gedero- 
thaim ; fourteen cities with their 
villages : 

37 Zenan, and Hadashah, and 
Migdai-gad, 

38 And Dilean, and Mizpeh, 
^and Joktheel, 

39 Lachish, and Bozkath, and 
Eglon, 

40 And Cabbon, and Lahmam, 
and Kithlish, 

41 AndGederothjBeth-dagon, 
and Naamah, and Makkedah ; 
sixteen cities with their villages : 

42 Libnah, and Ether, and 
Ashan, 

43 And Jiphtah, and Ashnah, 
and Nezib, 

44 And Keilah, and Achzib, 
and Mareshah ; nine cities with 
their villages : 



f 1 Sam. 27.6. g Num. 13. 23. 
14.7. 



h 2 Kings 



32. All the cities are twenty and 
nine. Bat upon an exact computa- 
tion there appears to be thirty -eisht. 
The reason of the discrepancy doubt- 
less is, either that nine of them were 
afterwards allotted to Simeon, or, as 



45 Ekron, with her towns and 
her villages : 

46 From Ekron even unto the 
sea^ all that lay near Ashdod, 
with their villages : 

47 Ashdod, with her towns 
and her villages; Gaza, with 
her towns and her villages, unto 
'the river of Egypt, and ^the 
great sea, and the border there- 

of: 

48 IT And in the mountains, 
Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, 

49 And Dannah, and Kirjath- 
sannah, which i^ Debir, 

50 And Anab, and Eshtemoh, 
and Anim, 

51 L\nd Goshen, and Holon, 
and Giloh ; eleven cities with 
their villages : 

b2 Arab, and Dumah, and 
Eshean, 

53 And Janum, and Beth-tap- 
puahj and Aphekah, 

54 And Humtah, and "" Kirjath- 
arba (which is Hebron) and 
Zior ; nine cities with their vil- 
lages : 

55 Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, 
and Juttah, 

56 And Jezreel, and Jokdeam, 
and Zanoah, 

57 Cain, Gibeah, and Timnah; 
ten cities with their villao;es : 

58 Halhul, Beth-zur, and Ge- 
dor, 

i ver. 4. k Num. 34. 6. l ch. 10. 41, and 
11, 16. m ch. 14, 15, and ver. 13. 

many of them are expressed by com- 
found terms, translators may have 
combined what should be separated, 
and in one or two instances have 
formed the names of ci/ies out oi epi- 
thets. 



164 



JOSHUA. 



^B. C. 1444. 



59 And Maarath, and Beth- 
anoth, and Eltekon ; six cities 
with their villages : 

60 " Kirjath-baal (which is 
Kirjath-jearim) and Kabbah ; 
two cities with their villages : 

61 In the wilderness, Beth- 
arabah, Middin, and Secacah, 

62 And Nibshan, and the city 
of Salt, and En-gedi ; six cities 
with their villages. 

63 IT As for the Jebusites, the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem, ''the 
children of Judah could not 
drive them out : ^but the Jebu- 
sites dwell with the children of 
Judah at Jerusalem unto this 
day. 



A 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ND the lot of the children 
of Joseph fell from Jor- 

" ch. 18. 14. o See Judg. 1. 8, 21. 2 Sam. 
5. 6. P Judg. 1. 21. 

63. The Jebusites — tJi£ children of 
Judah could not drive them out. Josh- 
ua had before taken the king of Je- 
rusalem, but not the city. The part 
from which the Jebusites could not 
be dislodged was more particularly 
the stronghold of Zion, falling with- 
in the lot of Benjamin, which was 
not finally reduced till the time of 
David, 2 Sam. 5. 6-10. As precisely 
the same thing is said of the children 
of Benjamin, Judg. 1. 21, which is 
here said of the children of Judah, 
the inference is inevitable that part 
of .Jerusalem was in the lot of Judah, 
and part in the lot of Benjamin. 
The inability of Judah to expel these 
Jebusites was owing solely to their 
own remissness and unbelief. If they 
had attempted it with vigor and reso- 
lution, if they had all had the un- 



dan by Jericho, unto the water 
of Jericho, on the east, to the 
wilderness that goeth up from 
Jericho throughout mount Beth- 

2 And goeth out from Beth-el 
to ""Luz, and passeth along unto 
the borders of Archi toAtaroth, 

3 And goeth down westward 
to the coast of Japhleti, ^unto 
the coast of Beth-horon the 
nether, and to ^'Gezer: and the 
goings out thereof are at the sea. ■ 

4 '^ So the children of Joseph, 
Manasseh and Ephraim, took 
their inheritance. 

5 IT And the border of the 
children of Ephraim according 
to their families was thus : even 
the border of their iflheritance 
on the east side was ''Ataroth- 

a ch. 18. 1.3. Judg. 1. 26. b ch. 18. 13. 
2 Chron. 8. 5. c 1 Chron. 7. 28. 1 Kings 
9. 15. d ch. 17. 4. e ch. 18. 13. 

daunted spirit of Caleb, there is no 
reason to doubt that God would have 
been present with them to crown their 
efforts wiih success. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

1. The children of Joseph. Ephraim 
and the half tribe of Manasseh. 
This portion, which was not one, 
but divided and distinct, lay in the 
very heart of Canaan, extending 
from the Jordan on the east, to the 
Mediterranean on the west. See 
Map. Fell. Heb. ^"S!^ yetze, came 
out, went forth ; i. e. out of the ves- 
sel or urn from which it was drawn. 

IT Unto the water of Jericho. The 

fountain in the immediate vicinity 
of Jericho, whose waters were healed 
by Elisha, as related 2 Kings 2. 19- jl 
22. nr Mount Bethel. That is, the 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XVIL 



165 



addar, ^unto Beth-horon the 
upper ; 

6 And the border went out to- 
ward the sea to ^Michmethah 
on the north side ; and the bor- 
der went about eastward unto 
Taanath-shiloh, and passed by 
it on the east to Janohah ; 

7 And it went down from Ja- 
nohah to Ataroth, ^'and to Naa- 
rath, and came to Jericho, and 
went out at Jordan. 

8 The border went out from, 
Tappuah westward unto the 
' river Kanah ; and the goings 
out thereof were at the sea. 
This is the inheritance of the 

f 2 Chron. 8. 5, g ch. 17. 7. b i Chron. 
7. 28. i ch. 17. 9. 

mount upon or near which mount 
Bethel was situated. There was no 
mountain so called. 

10. Drave not out the Canaanites. 
Yet they so far prevailed against 
them as to subject them to tribute ; 
which shows that with proper exer- 
tions they might have extirpated them 
entirely, and that they were inexcu- 
sable for not having done so. The 
remarks of Josephus undoubtedly fur- 
nish the true clue to their reixiissness. 
'After this, the Israelites grew effemi- 
nate as to fighting any more against 
their enemies, but applied themselves 
to the cultivation of the land, w^hich 
producing them great plenty and 
riches, they neglected the regular 
disposition of their settlement, and 
indulged themselves in luxury and 
pleasures.' ' The Benjamites, to 
whom belonged Jerusalem, permit- 
ted its inhabitants to pay tribute ; the 
rest of the tribes, imitating Benjamin, 
did the same ; and contenting them- 
selves with the tributes that were 



tribe of the children of Ephraim 
by their families. 

9 And ^ the separate cities for 
the children of Ephrairn were 
amonp; the inheritance of the 
children of Manasseh, all the 
cities with their villages. 

10 ^ And they drave not out 
the Canaanites that dwelt in 
Gezer : but the Canaanites 
dwell among the Ephraim ites 
unto this day, and serve under 
tribute. 

CHAPTER XVIL 

THERE was also a lot foi: 
the tribe of Manasseh ; for 

k ch. 17. 9, 1 Judg. 1. 29. See 1 Kings 
9. 16. 



paid them, permitted the Canaanites 
to live in peace.' Ant. B. V. ch. 2. 
§ 5, 7. So it may be suggested that 
Christians are in danger of putting 
their own, or the sins of others lender 
tribute^ i. e. making them a source 
of w^orldly profit, instead of vigor- 
ously aiming to eradicate them utter- 
ly. It is a serious question, whether 
the gains of Christian venders of 
ardent spirits are not derived from 
this source. Is it not taking tribute 
of the Canaanites? 



CHAPTER XVIL 

1. Also a lot for the tribe of Ma- 
nasseh. It was important to note 
this, to show, that although Jacob, in 
his blessing, Gen. 48. 19, 20, did, in 
a measure, set Ephraim before Ma- 
nasseh, yet it was not to prejudice 
his rights of primogeniture. Ephra- 
im, indeed, was to be more numerous 
and powerful than Manasseh, yet 
Manasseh was the first-born, and was 
to have his distinct inheritance, in- 



166 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



he was the * first-born of Joseph ; 
to wit^ for ^Machir the first- 
born of Manasseh, the father of 
Gilead : because he was a man 
'of war, therefore he had ''Gilead 
and Bashan. 

2 There was also a lot for 
*^ the rest of the children of Ma- 
nasseh by their families ; ^for 
the children of Abiezer, and for 
the children of Helek, ^and for 
the children of Asriel, and for 
the children of Shechem, ^ and 
for the children of Hepher, and 
for the children of Shemida : 
these were the male children of 
Manasseh the son of Joseph by 
their families. 

a Gen. 41. 51, and 46. 20, and 48. 18. b Gen. 
60 2-3. Num. 26. 29, and 32. 39, 40. IChron. 
7. 14. c Dent. 3. 15. ci Num. 26. 29-32. 
e 1 Chron. 7. 18. Num. 26. 30. f Num. 26. 
31. g Num. 26. 32. 

stead of being incorporated with his 

brother in possession. If Machir. 

The name of the only son of Ma- 
nasseh, but here as well as Judg. 5. 
14, put for his posterity. Indeed, 
throughout this description of the 
boundaries of the tribes, the names 
of fathers stand for their descendants. 

IF The first-born of Manasseh. 

Meaning his only son. It is a scrip- 
tural usage to denominate an only 
son the first born. See Matt. 1. 24, 25. 

IF The father of Gilead. Although 

it is true, as expressly affirmed Num. 
26. 29, and 27. 1, that Machir was 
'\he father of a son named Gilead, yet 
it is certain that this latter name, 
when used with the article in Heb. 
as here, is almost invariably applied 
to the country so called, and which 
received its denomination, in the 
time of Jacob, from the incident 
mentioned Gen 31. 48. It can 



3 IT But ^Zelophehad, the son 
of Hepher, the son of Gilead, 
the son of Machir, the son of 
Manasseh, had no sons, but 
daughters : and these are the 
names of his daughters, Mahlah, 
and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and 
Tirzah. 

4 And they came near before 
' Eleazar the priest, and before 
Joshua the son of Nun, and be- 
fore the princes, saying, ^ The 
Lord commanded Moses to give 
us an inheritance among our 
brethren : therefore according 
to the commandment of the 
Lord he gave them an inheri- 
tance among the brethren of 
their father. 

5 And there fell ten portions 

h Num 26. 33. and 27. 1, and 36. 2. i ch. 
14 1. k Num. 27. 6, 7. 

scarcely be doubted, therefore, that 
the phrase 'father of Gilead,' is here 
properly to be understood of Machir, 
and that he is so called ju.si as in 
1 Chron. 2. 24, 45, 49, 50, Asher is 
called ' father of Tekoa,' Maon 'fa- j 
iher of Beth-zur,' Sheva, ' father of " 
Gibea,' and Shabal 'father of Kirjath- 
jearim ;' all the names of places. 
The reason of Machir, or rather his 
posterity, being so called, is imme- 
diately stated — because, being a war- 
like and valiant race, they had con- 
quered Gilead and Bashan, therefore 
that region was allotted them. 

2. The wude children of Manasseh. 
This is mentioned merely to prepare 
the way for the ensuing digression, 
concerning the daughters of Zelo- 
phehad. 

3. But Zelophehad the son of He- 
fher, &c. See Notes on Num. 26. 
33. 27. 1. 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XVII. 



167 



to Manasseh, besides the land 
of Gilead and Bashan, which 
were on the other side Jordan ; 

6 Because the daughters of 
Manasseh had an inheritance 
amono; his sons : and the rest 
of Manasseh's sons had the land 
of Gilead. 

7 IT And the coast of Manas- 
seh was from Asher to ^Mich- 
methah, that lieth before She- 
chem ; and the border went 
alono; on the right hand unto 
the inhabitants of En-tappuah. 

8 jS'ow Manasseh had the land 
of Tappuah : but ™ Tappuah on 
the border of Manasseh belong- 
ed to the children of Ephraim : 

9 And the coast descended 
"unto the riv^er Kanah, south- 
ward of the river. ° These cities 
of Ephraim are among the cities 



1 ch. 16 6. 
o ch, 16 9. 



" ch. 16. 8. n ch. 16. S. 



11. Beth-shean and her towns. Heb. 
rr^rnDD benothekah^ and her daugh- 
ters. Beth-shean, or Beth-san, the 
Scythopolis of the Greek and Roman 
writers, was situated in the plain of 
Jordan, at the east end of the great 
plain of Jezreel, and not far from the 
sea of Galilee. It is now called 
Bisan, eight hours, or twenty- four 
.miles from Tiberias, and described, 
by Dr. Richardson, as a collection of 
miserable hotels, containing about 
two hundred inhabitants. But the 
interesting ruins in its vicinity point 
out to the traveller its former gran- 
deur and importance. If And the 

inhabitants. The phraseology is re- 
markable, implying that they had or 
possessed not the places only, but also 
the people ; that is, that having 
spared them, contrary to the Divine 



of Manasseh : the coast of Ma- 
nasseh also was on the north 
side of the river, and the out- 
o;oino;s of it were at the sea : 

10 Southw^ard it was Ephra- 
im's, and northward it was Ma- 
nasseh's, and the sea in his bor- 
der ; and they met together in 
Asher on the north, and in Is- 
sachar on the east. 

11^ And Manasseh had in 
Issachar and in Asher, '^Beth- 
shean and her towns, and Ibleam 
and her towns, and the inhab- 
itants of Dor and her towns, and 
the inhabitants of Endor and her 
towns, and the inhabitants of 
Taanach and her towns, and the 
inhabitants of Megiddo and her 
towns, even three countries. 

12 Yet nhe children of Ma- 
nasseh could not drive out the 



P 1 Chrnn. 7.29. q 1 Sam. 
4. 12. r Judg. 1. 27, 28. 



!1. 10. 1 KinffS 



command, they reduced them to the 
condition of dependants and menials, 
and served themselves of them. 

12. I'he children of Manasseh could 
not drive out, &C. Their inability 
was wholly of the moral kind. They 
could not do it, because they were 
not disposed to do it, just as it is said 
of Joseph's brethren, Gen. 37. 4, that 
' they could not speak peaceably unto 
him,' so strong was their personal 
dislike to him. The love of ease, 
the prospect of gain, and, perhaps, 
the feelings of humanity, accompa- 
nied by a gradual declension of faith 
and zeal, prevailed over the motives 
which should have prompted them 
to action, and so rendered them un- 
able to effect the object. But an in- 
ability, arising from this source, was 
obviously inexcusable, on the same 



168 



JOSHUA, 



[B. C. 1444. 



inhnbitants of those cities j but 
the Canaanites would dwell in 
that land. 

13 Yet it came to pass, when 
the children of Israel were wax- 
en strong, that they put the 
Canaanites to 'tribute ; but did 
not utterly drive them out. 

6 ch. 16. 10. 

grounds that a drunkard's inability 
to master his propensity for strong 
drink is inexcusable. In like man- 
ner, the ■' cannot ' of the impenitent 
sinner, in regard to the performance 
of his duty, is equally inexcusable. 

IT The Canaanites loould dwell 

in that land. Heb. iTC'ri ^'Si^'^ yocl 
lashebeth, willed to dwell. A very re- 
markable expression, indicative of 
the obstinate determination of the 
Canaani:es to retain possession of the 
country, and carrying wiih it a severe 
reflection upon the siipineness, cow- 
ardice, and unbelief of ^he Israeli:cs. 
The present version, ' would,' gives 
a very exact idea of the import of the 
original, which signifies to tvill, to 
determine, especially as iLe result of 
complacency, content, or satisfaction 
in any thing. It implies here, that 
the Canaanites resolved to act their 
own ivill in remaining, that tLey 
would do as they 2)leascd about it. 
Alas ! how often is it the case that 
our innate lusts, those hidden ene- 
mies of the heart, obtain such an ad- 
vantage over us, that they may be 
conceived as uttering the same lan- 
guage ! Long accustomed to tolera- 
tion and forbearance, they at length 
spurn control, and domineer in the 
most absolute manner. As if they 
held their place and power by pre- 
scription, they seem determined not 
to be dispossessed, and lord it with 



14 * And the children of Joseph 
spake unto Joshua, saying. Why 
hast thou given me hut " one lot 
and one portion to inherit, see- 
ing I am "" a great people, foras- 
much as the Lord hath blessed 
me hitherto? 

t ch. 16. 4. u Gen. 48. 22. x Gen. 48. 19. 
Num. 26. 34, 37. 



all the airs of despotic masters over 
their too easy and obsequious sub- 
jects. But such a base subjection as 
this, always costs the Christian dear, 
if, indeed, he be a Christian over 
whomt it is exercised. He may de- 
cline a vigorous contest now when 
the victory is comparativejy easy, 
but he must prepare fcr the combat 
by and by, and must count upon ten- 
fold difficulty in achieving a con- 
quest. If he succeeds at all, he will 
barel}' escape with his life. Interest, 
duty, safety, all combine, therefore, 
to require of the believer the most 
determined and unremitting efforts 
10 obtain and preserve a decided as- 
cendency over the inlred corruptions 
of his nature. 

13. Yet it came to pass, (Sic. This 
might better be rendered 'and,' or 
' lor it came to pass,' as the words 
are not in. ended to express an oppo- 
sition to the leading sense of the pre- 
ceding verse, but rather to point to 
the reason of the failure of the Israel- 
ites to expel their enemies: viz. be- 
cause they found it more agreeable 
to put them under tribute, though in 
direct disobedience of the divine in- 
junction. Deut. 20. 16. 

14. The children of Joseph. That 
is, both the tribes of Ephraim and 
Manasseh conjointly. They speak, . 
however, according to common usage || 
in the Hebrew, as if they were but 



B, C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XVII. 



169 



15 And Joshua answered them. 
If thou he a great people, then 
get thee up to the wood-coM?i- 
try^ and cut down for thyself 
there in the land of the Periz- 



one person. -IT Otvc let arid one por- 
tion. It is not easy to determine 
whether they complain of having re- 
ceived but one lot, when they consi- 
dered themselves entitled to twO; as 
being two distinct tribes^ or that the 
district assigned to them was so small 
as to be no more than sufficient for 
one tribe of ordinary dimensions. 
They complain, however, of the nar- 
rowness of their bounds, and plead 
that their great numbers should con- 
stitute a claim for a larger portion. 

IF Forasmuch as the Lord hath 

blessed 'nu hitherto. Increased, m^ul- 
tiplied me. On this sense of the 
word ' bless/ see on Gen. 1. 22. 

15. If thou be a great people. Josh- 
ua takes them at their word, and 
makes their alleged greatness an ar- 
gument of their being the better able 
by their own energy and industry to 
make up any deficiency in their lot. 
The com^plete expulsion of the Ca- 
naanites from their territories would 
be a mrtiial enlargement of their 
bounds, and to this they ought to 
hold themselves obliged by the com- 
mand and the promise of Jehovah. 
He intimates, if we mistake not, that 
their lot was in itself sufficiently ex- 
tensive for their purposes, would they 
but make it all o.vailable, which he 
now enjoins it upon them to do. ' Ma- 
ny wish for larger possessions who 
do not cultivate and make the bsst 
of what they have ; and think they 
should have more talents given them, 
when they do i:ot trade with those 
15 



zites and of the ''giants, if mount 
Ephraim be too narrow for thee* 
16 And the children of Joseph 
said, The hill is not enough for 
us : and all the Canaanites that 

V Gen. 14. 5, and 15. 2i). 

with which they are intrusted.' Hen* 

ry. %Get thee up to the wood-coMXi-^ 

try. That is, to the mountainous 
parts which are covered with wood. 
We suppose he still has in view cer- 
tain parts of the tract which had not 
been expressly assigned, but which 
were, at present^ possessed by the 
Perizzites and Rephaim, a gigantic 
and formidable race, whom they 
seem to have been backward to en»- 

counter. IT Cut down for thyself. 

That is, prepare a place for thyself 
They were to combine the labors of 
the axe with those of the sword, in 
obtaining and fitting up for them- 
seh^s a suitable possession. It is, 
however, to be remarked, that the 
original word here rendered ' cut 
down ' is applied, Ezek. 23. 47, to dis- 
patching with the sivord.^ and that it is 
not, therefore, absolutely certain that 
it refers solely to the cutting down the 
trees of a forest. It may mean cut- 
ting down enemies in war. Probably 
the genuine idea is, making a clear- 
ance for themselves., whether by fell- 
ing the forests, or by cutting off the 
giants, or both. It is worthy of notice, 
that the original word is from the 
same root with ^"^H hara^ to create^ 
Gen. 1. 1, and which we there en- 
deavored to show, implied a process 
of re-forming J or renovating^ just as 
the transforming an uninhabited 
woodland tract into cultivated fields, 
or populous towns, renovates or re- 
creates a country." 

16. The hill is not enough for us. 



170 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



dwell in the land of the valley 
have ^ chariots of iron, both they 
who are of Beth-shean and her 
towns, and they who are ^of the 
valley of Jezreel. 

17 And Joshua spake unto the 
house of Joseph, even to Ephra- 
im and to Manasseh, saying, 

7 Judg. 1. 19, and 4. 3. 

Heb. 1l3i i^'2J2'^ i<^ lo yimmatze lanu, 
shall not he foiiud. for us. That is, 
perhaps, is unattainable by us, can- 
not be mastered. The grounds of 
their apprehension, they proceed to 

state in what follows. If And all 

the CanaaniteSj &c. Rather, fo?- all 
the Canaanites, &c. It would be im- 
possible, they thought, to make them- 
selves masters of the mountainSj so 
long as their enemies, with their iron 
chariots, commanded all the adjacent 
valleys. Such a formidable defence 
would effectually preclude all access. 

^Chariots of iron. Not chariots 

made wholly of iron, but armed with 
it; chariots with long scythes fas- 
tened to their axle-trees, as described 
above, ch. 11. 4. 

17. Thou shall not have one lot on- 
ly. Thoa shalt not be restricted to 
what thou callest one lot ; it is in fact 
a much larger territory, and thou do- 
est wrong to call it by so diminutive 
a title. Only possess the whole, and 
great and powerful as thou art, thou 
wilt find no reason to complain of 
too contracted bounds. 

18. But the motmtain shall be thine. 
The same mountainous or hilly tract 
of which he had spoken before. See- 
ing that their i^equest proceeded only 
from pusillanimity and want of faith, 
he insists upon his first suggestion. 
He would have them quit themselves 
like men, and take possession of the 



Thou art a great people, and 
hast great power : thou shalt 
not have one lot only : 

18 But the mountain shall be 
thine ; for it is a wood, and thou 
shalt cut it down : and the out- 
goino:s of it shall be thine : for 
thou shalt drive out the Canaan- 

z ch. 19. 18. 1 Kings 4. 12. 

fine w^ooded hills to which he refer- 
red before. There was no reason 
why they should ask any thing more. 
And as to the Canaanites and their 
chariots of iron, what were they 
when set in opposition to the almigh- 
ty arm of Israel's God ? They were 
not to fear for a moment but that 
they should drive them out^ terrible 

as they were. IT The outgoings of 

it shall be thine. Meaning, probably, 
the passages and vallevs leading to 
it ; q. d. ' Clear away the wood, occu- 
py the mountain, and you shall soon 
be able to command all the defiles, 
all the avenues of approach, and no 
enemy can make head against you.' 
Otherwise, the meaning may be. The 
mountainous tract, in all the extent of 
its boundaries, shall be thine. This 
is sometimes the sense of ' outgo- 
ings.' We may learn from this pe- 
tition of the sons of Joseph, (1) How 
prone men are to be discontented with 
their lot. A dissatisfied mind, a dis- 
position to murmur, envy, and covet, 
rather than to be content, thankful, 
and liberal, is, alas I too often charac- 
teristic of those w^ho are really high- 
ly favored of Heaven, would they 
but survey their blessings in all their 
length and breadth, and extract the 
most out of them that they are capa- 
ble of yielding. (2) Our complaints 
of comforts withheld are often no 
more than testimonies of our own su- 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



171 



ites, ^ though 
chariots, and 



they 



though 



have iron 
they be 



strong. 



A 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ND the whole congregation 
of the children of Israel 
assembled together^ at Shiloh, 

s Deut. 20. 

pineness, negligence, and fear of the 
cross. From an ignoble fear that 
our enemies are too many, or too 
mighty for us, and that we can do 
nothing, we sit down and attempt 
nothing : and yet we complain of 
prov^idential allotnaents. Thus it is 
that ' the foolishness of man pervert- 
eth his way, and (yet) his heart fret- 
teth against the Lord.' 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
1. lyie v'hole congregation — assem- 
bled at Shiloh. The withdrawnient 
of the tribes of Judah, Ephraim, and 
Manasseh, to take possession of their 
respective lots, would sensibly dimin- 
ish the body of the people encamped 
around the tabernacle at Gilgal, and 
make it inconvenient as a place of 
resort to those who were becoming 
settled at a distance. The expedien- 
cy, therefore, of removing the taber- 
nacle itself to a more central posi- 
tion was obvious, though the step, it 
may be presumed, would not be tak- 
en without divine direction, for God 
expressly retained to himself the pre- 
rogative of ' choosing the place where 
he should cause his name to dwell,' 
Deut. V2. 11, Shiloh accordingly 
was selected for this purpose. The 
name of this city is the same as that 
by which Ja^ob predicted the Messi- 
ah, 49. 10, and some commentators 
suppose that it was first called Shiloh 



and ^ set up the tabernacle of 
the congregation there : and the 
land was subdued before them. 
2 And there remained among 
the children of Israel seven 
tribes, which had not yet re- 
ceived their inheritance. 

a ch. 19. 51, and 21. 2, and 22. 9. Jer.7. 12. 
b Judg. 18. 31. 1 Sam. ] . 3, 24, and 4. 3, 4. 



on this occasion, when selected for 
the resting-place of the ark, and the 
observance of those institutions which 
pointed to Christ, the great Peace- 
maker between heaven and earth. It 
was situated in the tribe of Ephraim, 
in the very centre of Canaan, about 
twenty miles north of Jerusalem, 
twelve north of Bethel, and ten south 
of Shechem. It was therefore the 
most convenient location possible for 
all the tribes, and as Joshua was him- 
self of the tribe of Ephraim, he, as 
chief magistrate of the nation, would 
always have a ready access to the 
sanctuary, when the God of Israel 
was to be consulted. In this place 
the ark and the tabernacle remained 
for upwards of three hundred and 
fifty years, till taken by the Philis- 
tines, in the time of Eli, 1 Sam. 4. 
1-11, It was afterwards removed to 
Nob, and finally, in the reign of Da- 
vid, to Jerusalem. ^And the land 

V'as subdued before them. Or, Heb. 
^ for the land was subdued,' intimat- 
ing to the reader, how it happened 
that they were enabled to avail them- 
selves of this favorable location. 
They were freed from the molestation 
of their enemies. The Canaanites 
were so far subdued that they offered 
no resistance or impediment to the 
occupation of the spot. 

2. Seven tribes which had not yet 
received thnr inheritance. The rea- 



172 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



3 And Joshua said unto lac 
children of Israel, ""How long 



c Judff. 18. 9. 



sons of this delay are unknown. 
The probability is, that the original 
survey, on which the division thus 
far made was founded, was so im- 
perfect, that the remaining tribes 
were unwilling to have it made the 
basis of their respective allotments. 
This is to be inferred from the fact 
that Judah's portion was soon found 
to be too large, as Joseph's had al- 
ready been found too small. The 
dissatisfaction expressed had led 
therefore to a temporary suspension 
of the work, till a new and more ex- 
act survey could be made. Add to 
this, ihat they appear to have become 
tired of the war. Their former con- 
quests had enriched them with spoil, 
they were enjoying the ample provi- 
sions which had been treasured up 
for the use of the former inhabitants, 
and they became self-indulgent, sloth- 
ful, and dilatory. They were now 
living at ease in the midst of their 
brethren ; the regions that yet re- 
mained to be divided were remote 
from the station around which they 
were clustered, and if they went to 
take possession of them, they must 
break up their present connexions, 
drive their flocks and herds, and con- 
vey their wives and children to 
strange places, and undergo new 
hardships and trials. Besides this, 
great numbers of the Canaanites still 
remained in the unappropriated dis- 
tricts, and these, they knew, could 
not be expelled but at the expense 
of great effort, fatigue and peril. 
Their hearts accordingly sunk with- 
in them at the prospect. They knew 
the vvorK was to be done— they wish- 



are ye slack to go to possess the 
land which the Lord God of 
your fathers hath given you ? 



ed it icere done — but still they had 
not spirit to undertake it. * The soul 
of the sluggard desireth and hath no- 
thing.' What a striking picture of 
the too common apathy and sluggish- 
ness of the candidate for the heaven- 
ly inheritance! How frequently is 
he diverted from present duties and 
debarred from present comforts, by 
giving way to slothful or timorous 
apprehensions of the difficulties that 
beset his path. Forty years after th is 
time, the tribe of Dan had to fight 
for their inheritance, and it was four 
hundred years before t*he Jebusites 
were driven from Jerusalem. Had 
all the tribes proceeded with united 
vigor to fulfil the divine command 
in its utmost extent, they would not 
so long have been annoyed by their 
remaining enemies, as ' scourges in 
their sides, and thorns in their eyes.' 
And who does not find that corrup- 
tions gather strength by indulgence, 
and that graces decay for want of ex- 
ercise 1 Therefore let us look to our- 
selves, that we lose not the things 
that we have wrought. 

3. Hoic long are ye slack to go to 
possess the land, &c. This is surely 
the language of rebuke, and implies 
that there had been a criminal remiss- 
ness, among the tribes, in regard to 
this matter, the probable source of 
which is explained in the remarks 
on the preceding verse. It is true, 
indeed, that they could not well be 
enjoined to enter immediately, to 
rush, as it were, upon their inheri- 
tances, for the particular assignments 
were first to be made to*each, but the 
point of the censure is directed to 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XViri. 



173 



among 



you 
and I 



4 Give out from 
three men for each tribe 
will send them, and they shall 
rise, and go through the land, 
and describe it according to the 
inheritance of them, and they 
shall come again to me. 

their indifference in this respect. 
They manifested no interest in, they 
were taking no steps towards having 
the requisite survey and division 
made. This was the essence of their 
oifence. So, in reproving the im- 
penitent for his neglecting to w^ork 
out his own salvation with fear and 
trembling, and in pressing upon him 
the faithful discharge of every Chris- 
tian duty, it is still to be understood 
that his first, his immediate business 
is to become reconciled to God, by 
unfeigned repentance; and thus to 
secure a title to eternal life. When 
this is done, his great concern in life 
is. like that of the Israelites in Ca- 
naan, to labor to enter into possession 
of his eternal inheritance. 

4. Give out from among you. Heb. 
felD^ 1!3n habu lakem^ give ye for your- 
selves ; i. e. appoint, select, ordain. 

IT Three men of each tribe. Of 

each of the seven tribes that yet re- 
mained to be provided for, making 

twenty-one in all. IT Go through 

the land. Accompanied, perhaps, by 
a military guard, to prevent the sur- 
veyors from being cut off by strag- 
gling parties of the Canaanites. 
Others suppose the Canaanites were 
supernaturally intimidated and re- 
strained from attacking them. 

IT Describe it. See on v. 9. 



^According to the inheritance of them. 
Heb, tDlnin^ '^^J lepi nahalatham, 
according to the mouth of their in- 
heritance ; i e.. probably, to the value 
15* 



5 And they shall divide it into 
seven parts : '^ Judah shall abide 
in their coast on the south, and 
Hhe house of Joseph shall abide 
in their coast on the north. 

6 Ye shall therefore describe 

d ch. 15. 1. » ch. 16. 1, 4. 

of their inheritance, or the country 
which they were to inherit ; not of 
their particular inheritances, for 
these were afterwards to be assigned 
them by lot, bat of the country in 
general which was to constitute their 
inheritance. This is frequently the 
sense of the Heb. term '^S pi, mouth, 
as may be seen by consulting Ex. 12. 
4; 16."^ 18; Gen. 43. 7; Prov. 12. 8. 
The words of Josephus, in his ac- 
count of this affair, give, as we con- 
ceive, very nearly the precise import 
of the original. ' He also gave them 
a charge to estimate the measure of 
that part of the land that was most 
fruitful, and what was not so good.' 
Again, ' Joshua thought the land for 
the tribes should be divided by esti- 
mation of its goodness, rather than 
the largeness oi its measure; it often 
happening that one acre of some sorts 
of land was equivalent to a thousand 
other acres.' Ant. B. V., ch. 1. § 21. 
Joshua's instructions, therefore, re- 
quired the commissioners to have a 
special eye to the intrinsic value of 
the different parts of the country, as 
being more or less fertile and eligible. 
5. And they shall divide it. Or, 
Heb. Ip^Dnrin hUhkalleku, divide ye 

it. IT Judah shall abide in their 

coast. In their district, in their re- 
gion. Heb. ' shall stand upon his 
border.' The meaning undoubtedly 
is, that in this survey they were not 
to take into consideration the tribe of 
Judah, which was in the south, nor 



174 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



the land into seven parts, and 
bring the description hither to 
me, '"that I may cast lots for you 
here before the Lord our God. 

7 ^But the Levites have no 
part among you ; for the priest- 
hood of the Lord is their in- 
heritance. ^ And Gad, and Reu- 
ben, and half the tribe of Ma- 
nasseh, have received their 
heritance beyond Jordan on the 
east, which Moses the servant 
of the Lord gave them. 

8 IT And the men arose, and 
went away : and Joshua charged 
them that went to describe the 



f ch. 14. 2, and ver. 10. g ch. 13. 33. 
h ch. 13. 8. 



the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, 
which were on the north of where 
they now were, but were carefully to 
divide the remaining territory which 
was not occupied by these tribes into 
seven equal parts. The tribes of 
Judah and Joseph had been already 
provided for ; let them stand by them- 
selves. The terms north and sout/i 
are here used relatively to Shiloh, 
rather than to the actual position of 
these two tribes. 

6. Before the Lord our God. Be- 
fore the ark or tabernacle, over 
which the symbol of the divine pre- 
sence rested. See on ch. 3. 11. The 
transaction was a solemn one, and 
he would have it so performed as 
that the tribes should look upon their 
possessions, as established to them by 
divine authority. The pious heart 
ever delights to look upon God as 
* determining the bounds of our habi- 
tations. ' 

7. The Levites have no part among 
you. See on ch. 13. 14. 

8. And Joshua charged. Rather, 



land, saying. Go, and walk 
through the land, and describe 
it, and come again to me, that I 
may here cast lots for you be- 
fore the Lord in Shiloh. 

9 And the men went and pass- 
ed through the land, and de- 
scribed it by cities into seven 
parts in a book, and came again 
to Joshua to the host at Shiloh. 

10 IT And Joshua cast lots for 
them in Shiloh before the Lord : 
and there Joshua divided the 
land unto the children of Israel 
according to their divisions. 

11 IT And the lot of the tribe 
of the children of Benjamin 
came up according to their 



' Joshua had charged,' as w^e find 
mentioned, v. 6. These words and 
the remaining part of the verse should 
be included in a parenthesis. 

9. Described it in a hook. Laid it 
down on a map or chart, accompa- 
nied, perhaps, with a verbal descrip- 
tion cf the leading features of the 
country. This is the earliest instance 
of land-surveying on record. The 
art was perhaps learned from the 
Egyptians ; for their fields being an- 
nually overflowed by the Nile, and 
the land-marks swept away, they 
would be compelled frequently to re- 
survey them, in order to adjust their 

limits. IT Described it by cities. 

Setting down the most remarkable 
cities, with their towns and villages, 
their distances from each other, and 

the territories adjacent. IT And 

came again to Joshua. According 
to Josephus, at the end of seven 
months. 

10. According to their divisions. 
According to their respective appor- 
tionments. 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XVIIL 



175 



families : and the coast of their 
lot came forth between the 
children of Judah and the chil- 
dren of Joseph. 

12 'And their border on the 
north side was from Jordan ; 
and the border went up to the 
side of Jericho on the north 
side, and went up through the 
mountains westward j and the 
goings out thereof were at the 
wilderness of Beth-aven. 

13 And the border went over 
from thence toward Luz, to the 
side of Luz (^ which is Beth-el) 
southward ; and the border de- 
scended to Ataroth-adar, near 
the hill that lieth on the south 
side* ^ of the nether Beth-horon. 

14 And the border was drawn 
thence^ and compassed the cor- 
ner of the sea southward, from 
the hill that lieth before Beth- 
horon southward ; and the go- 
ino-s out thereof were at ™ Kir- 
jath-baal (which is Kirjath- 
jearim) a city of the children 
of Judah. This vms the west 
quarter. 

15 And the south quarter was 
from the end of Kirjath-jearim, 
and the border went out on the 
west, and went out to ° the well 
of waters of Nephtoah : 

i See eh. 16. 1. k Gen. 26. 19 Judg. 1. 
23. 1 ch. 16. 3. ra ch. 15. 9. n ch. 15. 9. 

11. A7td the lot — came up. That is, 
came forth from the urn or vessel in 
which the lots were deposited. And 
so by an easy metaphor it is said im- 
mediately after, that ' the coast came 
forth,' because the lot on which it 
depended came forth. In like man- 
ner it is said, Levit. 16. 9, ' The goat 



16 And the border came down 
to the end of the mountain that 
lieth before ''the valley of the 
son of Hinnom, and which is in 
the valley of the giants on the 
north, and descended to the val- 
ley of Hinnom, to the side of 
Jebusi on the south, and de- 
scended to ^En-rogel, 

17 And was drawn from the 
north, and went forth to En- 

, shemesh, and went forth toward 
Geliloth, which is over against 
the going up of Adummim, and 
descended to "^the stone of Bo- 
han the son of Reuben, 

IS And passed along toward 
the side over against ""Arabah 
northward, and went down unto 
Arab ah : 

19 And the border passed 
along to the side of Beth-hoglah 
northward : and the out-goings 
of the border were at the north 
bay of the salt-sea at the south 
end of Jordan. This was the 
south coast. 

20 And Jordan w^as the border 
of it on the east side. This was 
the inheritance of the children 
of Benjamin, by the coasts there- 
of round about, according to 
their families. 

21 Now the cities of the tribe 



ch. 15. 
15.6. 



p ch. 15. 7. q ch. 15. 6. r ch. 



upon which the Lord's lot fell, (Heb. 
upon which the Lord's lot came up.^) 
IT Betvjeen the children of Judah 



and the children of Joseph. See on 
Deat. 33. 12. The prediction of Mo- 
ses in regard to the lot of Benjamin 
was remarkably fulfilled, as may be 
seen in the Note on Deut. 33. 12. 



176 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



of the children of Benjamin ac- 
cording to their families, were 
Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and 
the valley of Keziz, 

22 And Beth-ar.abah, and Ze- 
maraim, and Eeth-el, 

23 And Avim, and Parah, and 
Ophrah, 

24 And Chephar-haammonai, 
and Ophni, and Gaba ; twelve 
cities with their villages : 

25 Gibeon, and Ramah, and 
Beeroth, 

26 And Mizpeh, and Chephi- 
rah, and Mozah, 

27 And Rekem, and Irpeel, 
and Taralah, 

CHAPTER XTX. 

1. The second lot came forth. Out 

of the urn. See on ch. 18. 11. 

^I^or the tribe of the children of Sim- 
eon. Exegetical of the preceding 
word ' Simeon,' showing that the 
names of persons are employed, as we 
have often elsewhere remarked, in a 
collective sense for the political bod- 
ies, the tribes, kingdoms, or countries 

of which they are the founders. 

IT Their inheritance was within the 
inheritance of the children of Judah. 
It would seem that the first rude sur- 
vey had led to an erroneous impres- 
sion of the extent of the country. 
They had supposed it to be much 
larger than it really was. Under 
this impression they had assigned a 
large territory to Judah, taking it for 
granted that the lots of the other 
tribes would be in the same propor- 
tion. Bui upon closer examination 
it was found that at that rate of as- 
signment the land wonld not hold 
out, and some of the tribes must be 
very much scanted or left wholly 
destiti\te of their just inheritance. 



28 And Zelah, Eleph, and 
'Jebusi, (which is Jerusalem) 
Gibeath, and Kirjath ; fourteen 
cities with their villages. This 
is the inheritance of the children 
of Benjamin according to their 
families. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

AND the second lot came 
forth to Simeon, even for 
the tribe of the children of Sim- 
eon according to their families : 
^and their inheritance was with- 
in the inheritance of the children 
of Judah. 



s ch. 15, 



a ver. 9. 



The obvious expedient was to take 
a part of the territory of Judah and 
allot it to Simeon. The inheritance 
of this tribe therefore is said to have 
fallen within the inheritance of Jn- 
dah, because it was included within 
the original limits of the latter tribe, 
and is elsewhere seldom or never 
spoken of as a distinct district. In 
this arrangement the providence of 
God is to be especially noted, as Ja- 
cob, in the spirit of prophecy, had 
foretold that Simeon and Levi should 
be '■ divided in Jacob, and scattered 
in Israel.' Gen. 49. 7. This was 
accordingly most literally fulfilled 
in the manner in which these tribes 
were now disposed of Levi was 
' scattered ' throughout all the land, 
not having received any distinct in- 
heritance, but only certain ' cities to 
dwell in ;' and Simeon, as we here 
learn, was ' divided,' or dispersed 
over the territories of Judah instead 
of having one of their own. This 
arrangement brought them into con- 
federacy with the tribe of Judah, 
Jud^:. 1 3, and afterwards was the 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XIX. 



177 



2 And ^ they had in their in- 
heritance, Beer-sheba, and She- 
ba, and Moladah, 

3 And Hazar-shual, and Ba- 
lah, and Azem, 

4 And Eltolad, and Bethul, 
and Hormah, 

5 And Ziklag, and Beth-mar- 
caboth, and Hazar-susah, 

6 And Beth-lebaoth, and Sha- 
ruhen ; thirteen cities and their 
villages : 

7 Ain, Remmon, and Ether, 
and Ashan ; four cities and their 
villages : 

b 1 Chron. 4. 28. 

occasion of the adherence of many 
of this tribe to the house of David at 
the time of the revolt of the ten tribes 
to Jeroboam. 2 Chron. 15. 9, ' Out 
of Simeon they fell to Asa in abun- 
dance.' 

"2. Beerslieba^ Sheha. Heb. ' Beer- 
sheba and (or even) Sheba.' That 
one and the same cit}^ is designated 
by both these names, is clear from the 
fact that otherwise there would have 
teen fourteen cities instead of thir- 
teen. Besides, in 1 Chron. 4. 28, 
where Simeon's cities are enumera- 
ted, the mention of Sheba is omitted 
as superfiuoas. As to the import of 
these names, see on Gen. 21. 31, 32. 
In the description of the lots of Ju- 
dah and Benjamin, an account is 
given both of the limits by which 
they were bounded and of the cities 
contained in them. In that of 
Ephraim and Manasseh the bounda- 
ries are given, but not the cities. In 
this chapter Simeon and Dan are de- 
scribed by their cities only, and not 
by their borders, because they were 
small, and the former lay within the 
limits of another tribe. The rest 



8 And all the villages that 
were round about these cities to 
Baalath-beer, Ramath of the 
south. This is the inheritance 
of the tribe of the children of 
Simeon according to their fami- 
lies. 

9 Out of the portion of the 
children of Judah was the in- 
heritance of the children of Sim- 
eon : for the part of the child- 
ren of Judah y/as too much for 
them : '^ therefore the children 
of Simeon had their inheritance 
within the inheritance of them. 

c ver. 1. 

have both their borders described, 
and their cities named. • 

9, The 'pari of the children of Ju- 
dah was too much for them. Too 
large in proportion to the other tribes, 
and too large for their actual neces- 
sities; although, as being the most 
numerous of all the tribes, it might 
justly claim a more extensive terri- 
tory than any of the rest. Yet when 
it was found that they could not in- 
sist upon the original allotment with- 
out manifest injustice to the other 
tribes, the men of Judah submitted 
without a murmur to relinquish a 
part of their possession. They will 
take no advantage of an unintention- 
al error by withholding that which 
equity and kindness would require 
them to give up. The same gener- 
ous principle will operate in like 
manner with every good man. If 
he has chanced, through the inadver- 
tency or mistake of another, to gain 
an undue advantage in a contract, 
he will cheerfully waive his right 
and make all the concessions which, 
in similar circumstances, he would 
wish to have made to himself. He 



178 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



10 IT And the third lot came 
up for the children of Zebulun 
according to their families : and 
the border of their inheritance 
was unto Sarid : 

1 1 '^ And their border went up 
toward the sea, and Maralah, 
and reached to Dabbasheth, and 
reached to the river that is ^be- 
fore Jokneam, 

12 And turned from Sarid 
eastward, toward the sun-rising, 
unto the border of Chisloth-ta- 
bor, and then goeth out to Da- 
bereth, and goeth up to Japhia, 

13 And from thence passeth 
on along on the east to Gittah- 
hepher, to Ittah-kazin, and go- 
eth out to Remmon-methoar to 
Neah ; 

14 And the border compasseth 
it on the north side to Hanna- 
thon : and the out-goings there- 
of are in the valley of Jiph- 
thah-el : 

15 And Kattath, and Nahallal, 
and Shimron, and Idalah, and 
Beth-lehem ; twelve cities with 
their villages. 

16 This is the inheritance of 
the children of Zebulun accord- 

d Gen. 49. 13. e ch. 12. 22. 

will, as the apostle enjoins, look upon 
the things of others, as well as upon 
his own. 

10. The third lot came up for the 
children of Zebulun. Though Zeb- 
ulun was younger than Issachar, yet 
both in the prophetic blessing of Ja- 
cob and of Moses he came before 
hirn, and in like manner he has the 
precedency here also in the allotment 
of his inheritance. Providence is 
wonderful in its correspondence with 
prophecy. The lot of this tribe was 



ing to their families, these cities 
with their villages. 

17 IF And the fourth lot came 
out to Issachar, for the children 
of Issachar according to their 
families. 

18 And their border was to- 
ward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, 
and Shunem, 

19 And Hapharaim, and Shi- 
hon, and Anaharath, 

20 And Rabbith, and Kishion, 
and Abez, 

21 And Remeth, and En-gan- 
nim, and En-haddah, and Beth- 
pazzez ; 

22 And the coast reacheth to 
Tabor, and Shahazimah, and 
Beth-shemesh ; and the out-go- 
ings of their border were at 
Jordan : sixteen cities with theij 
villages. 

23 This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of Is- 
sachar according to their fami- 
lies, the cities and their villages 

24 IT And the fifth lot came 
out for the tribe of the childrec 
of Asher according to their fam- 
ilies. 

25 And their border was Hel- 



washed by the Mediterranean on the 
west, and by the sea of Galilee op 
the east, agreeably to Jacob's predic- 
tion. Gen. 49. 13, that Zebulun should 
be ' a haven of ships.' 

15. Beth-lehem. A place lying at 
a great distance to the north of the 
Beth-lehem in Judah where our Lord 
was born. 

25. And their border. The word 
' border ' or ' boundary ' both here 
and in what follows, is not to be un- 
derstood simply of the boundary line, 



B C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XIX, 



179 



kath, and Hali, and Beten, and 
Achsaph, 

26 And Alammelech, and A- 
mad, and Misheal ; and reach- 
eth to Carmel westward, and to 
Shihor-libnath ; 

21 And turneth toward the 
.sun-rising to Beth-dagon, and 
reacheth to Zebulun, and to the 
valley of Jiphthah-el toward the 
north side of Beth-emek, and 
Neiel, and goeth out to Cabul on 
the left hand, 

28 And Hebron, and Rehob, 
and Hammon,and Kanah, ^ even 
unto great Zidon ; 

29 And then the coast turneth 
to Namah, and to the strong ci- 
ty " Tyre ; and the coast turneth 
to Hosah : and the out-o-oino-s 
thereof are at the sea from the 
coast to *" Achzib : 

30 Ummah also, and Aphek, 
and Rehob : twenty and two 
cities with their viliaires. 



f ch. 11. 8. 
h Gen. 38. 5. 



Judg. 1. 31. 
Jud^. 1. 31. 



g 2 Sam. 5. 11. 
Mic. 1. 14. 



but also of all the towns and lands 
which it embraces. It might be ren- 
dered. ' distrfct ' or ' territory.' 

30. Twenty and two cities. The 
above enumeration gives us nearly 
thirty cities instead of twenty-two, but 
probably several are mentioned which 
were only frontier towns, sometimes 
reckoned as belonging to one tribe, 
and sometimes to another, or perhaps 
some of the appendant villages are 
named, as well as the towns. 

34. To Judah upon Jordan. How 
this is to be understood is not clear. 
It is certain that the tribe of Naph- 
tali did not border on the east nor in 
any other direction, upon Judah, for 
there were several tribes that lay be- 



31 This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of Asher 
according to their families, these 
cities with their villao;es. 

32 IT The sixth lot came out 
to the children of Naphtali, even 
for the children of Naphtali ac- 
cordino; to their families. 

33 And their coast was from 
Heleph, from Allon to Zaanan- 
nim, and Adami, Nekeb, and 
Jabneel, unto Lakum ; and the 
out-o;oino;s thereof were at Jor- 
dan : 

34 And then ' the coast turneth 
westward to Aznoth-tabor, and 
goeth out from thence to Huk- 
kok, and reacheth to Zebulun 
on the south side, and reacheth 
to Asher on the w^est side, and 
to Judah upon Jordan toward 
the sun-rising. 

35 And the fenced cities are 
Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, 
Rakkath, and Cinneroth, 

i Deut. 33. 23. 



tween them. Both tribes, however, 
were bounded by the Jordan on the 
east, and they might be considered 
as in some sort conjoined by the easy 
communication with each other by 
means of that river. This we deem 
the only plausible interpretation of 
the passage, and thus understood it 
goes strikingly to illustrate the ob- 
scure prediction of Moses, Deut. 33. 
23, that jNaphtali should -'possess the 
west and the south,' i. e. that although 
his settlement should be in the west 
or northwest, yet by means of the 
navigation of the Jordan, he should 
avail himself of the advantages of 
traffic with all the southern section 
of the land. 



180 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



36 And Adamah, and Ramah, 
and Hazor, 

37 And Kedesh, and Edrei, 
and En-hazor, 

38 And Iron, and Migdal-el, 
Horem, and Beth-anath, and 
Beth-shemesh ; nineteen cities 
with their villages. 

39 This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of 
Naphtali according to their fam- 
ilies, the cities and their villages. 

40 TT And the seventh lot came 
out for the tribe of the children 
of Dan according to their fami- 
lies. 

41 And the coast of their in- 
heritance was Zorah, and Esh- 
taol, and Ir-shemesh, 

42 And J Shaalabbin, and Aja- 
lon, and Jethlath, 

43 And Elon, and Thimnathah, 
and Ekron, 

44 And Eltekeh, and Gibbe- 
thon, and Baalath, 

j Judg. 1. 35. 

47. The coast of t/i£ children of Dan 
went out too little fo?' them. Heb. 
ton?3 i^^*^ yetze mehem, went out from 
them ; i. e. out of their hands, out of 
their possession. A similar usage 
of the Heb. verb occurs Lev. 25. 28- 
33, where the lauds in the year of 
the jubilee are said to ' go out ;' i. e. 
out of the hands of the present pos- 
sessor, to the original owner. The 
meaning here undoubtedly is, that 
the Danites, being closely pressed 
upon by their powerful neighbors the 
Philistines, were forced in considera- 
ble numbers to abandon their allotted 
possessions. In consequence of hav- 
ing their original portion thus wrest- 
ed out of their hands, they were in- 



45 And Jehud, and Bene-be- 
rak, and Gath-rimmon, 

46 And Me-jarkon, and Rak- 
kon, with the border before ^ Ja- 
pho. 

47 And ^ the coast of the chil- 
dren of Dan went out too little 
for them : therefore the children 
of Dan went up to fight against 
Leshem, and took it, and smote 
it with the edge of the sword, 
and possessed it, and dwelt 
therein, and called Leshem, 
™Dan, after the name of Dan 
their father. 

48 This is the inheritance of 
the tribe of the children of Dan 
according to their families, these 
cities with their villages. 

49 T!" When they had made an 
end of dividing the land for in- 
heritance by their coasts, the 
children of Israel gave an in- 
heritance to Joshua the son of 
Nun among them : 

k Acts 9. 36. 1 Judg. 18. m Judg. 18. 29. 



daced ta seek another in a distant 
quarter of the land, and made an in- 
road accordingly upon Leshem, ly- 
ing at the foot of mounf Lebanon and 
near the sources of the river Jordan. 
This event, which occurred some 
time after the death of Joshua, and 
is more fully recorded, Judg. 18. 1- 
29, is touched upon here both to 
complete what is said of the inherit- 
ance of the Danites, and to intimate 
how it happened, that a part of the 
tribe were afterwards found inhabit- 
ing a district of the country so remote 
from their original possessions. This 
addition to the narrative was perhaps 
made by Phineas. 
49. The children of Israel gave an 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XX. 



181 



50 Accordino- to the word of 
the Lord they gave him the ci- 
ty whicli he asked, even "Tim- 
nath-^'serah in mount Ephraim : 
and he built the city, and dwelt 
therein. 

51 p These are the inheritances 
which Elea'zer the priest, and 
Joshua the son of Nun, and the 
heads of the fathers of the tribes 
of the children of Israel, divided 

n ch. 24. 30. o 1 Chron. 7. 24. p Num. 
34. 17. ch. 14. 1. 

inheritance to Joshua. As it is said 
immediately afterwards, v. 50, that 
Joshua received his inheritance ' ac- 
cording to the ^vord of the Lord,' it 
could be considered no otherwise the 
gift of the people, than as they cheer- 
fully acquiesced in the assignment, 
and were glad of an opportunity of 
thus testifying, by their heart}^ con- 
currence, their affeciion for their ven- 
erable leader and their interest in his 
comfortable settlement in his old age. 
On his part, he evinced a striking 
moderation and disinterestedness, 
and proposed a noble example to all 
in public places, in making no pro- 
vision for himself till he saw all the 
tribes fixed in their respective inher- 
itances. This was acting in the true 
spirit of a public servant — to prefer 
the general welfare to his private 
convenience, ease, or emolument. 
So the servants of Christ, while they 
fully appreciate and ardently covet 
an inheritance in the Canaan above, 
will deem it soon enough to enter \y^- 
on it when they have done all in their 
power towards bringing others to 
partake of the same glorious posses- 
sion. 

50. According to the word of the 
Lord. According to the promise of 
16 



for an inheritance by lot "^ in Shi- 
loh before the Lord, at the door 
of the tabernacle of the conore- 
gation. So they made an end 
of dividing the country. 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE Lord also spake unto 
Joshua, saying, 
2 Speak to the children of Is- 
rael, saying, "" Appoint out for 
you cities of refuge, w^hereof I 

q ch. 18. 1, 10. a Exod. 21. 13. Numb. 
35. 6, 11, 14. Deut 19. 2, 9. 

the Lord ; made probably at the same 
time that a particular inheritance 
was promised to Caleb. This is to 
be inferred from Caleb's words, ch, 
14. 6, who in speaking to Joshua 
says, ' Thou knowest the things that 
the Lord said unto Moses the man 
of God concerning me and thee in 
Kadesh-barnea.' As Joshua had, on 
the occasion referred to, evinced 
equal courage and fidelity with Ca- 
leb, it is reasonable to suppose that 
he received the same tokens of the 

divine approbation. IT Timnath- 

serah. Called Timnath-heres, Judg. 
2. 9j where we learn that the name 
of the mountain on which it stood 
was Gaash. It was here that Joshua 

was buried, ch. 24. 30. IT He built 

the city. Repaired it, put it in order, 
perhaps enlarged and adorned it. In 
this vsense Nebuchadnezzar is said, 
Dan. 4. 30, ' to have built Babylon.' 
51. These are the inheritances^ &c. 
This verse is inserted ^as a general 
conclusion to all that has been thus 
far said of the distribution of the 
land among the several tribes. The 
writer now turns to another subject. 



CHAPTER XX. 

2. Appoint out for your cities of 



182 



JOSHUA 



[B. C. 1444. 



spake unto you by the hand of 
Moses : 

3 That the slayer that killeth 
any person unawares a?i^ unwit- 
tingly may flee thither : and 



refuge. Heb. GiD^J IDD tenu lakem, 
give for yourselves. No delinquency 
on the part of Joshua is to be inferred 
from this command, as if he had 
neglected, or were likely to neglect, 
a very important part of the arrange- 
ments designed to be carrieck into 
effect after the settlement of Israel 
in Canaan. He was well aware of 
the divine intention in this respect, 
and would doubtless have acted upon 
it, as well as upon every other order 
with which he was charged, but God 
saw fit to interpose to remind him 
that now was the precise time^ when 
the tribes had just received their in- 
heritances, and while they were yet 
together, to separate the cities of re- 
fuge for the uses for which they were 
intended, and respecting which such 
copious instructions had been before 
given, Num. 35. 11-34; Deut. 19. 
2-10. To the notes on these passages 
the reader is referred for a fuller ac- 
count of the nature and object of this 
institution. It was an essential ap- 
pendage to the patriarchal system 
of government, as far as the avenging 
of blood was concerned. It has been 
already remarked, that the nearest of 
kin to a deceased person had not only 
the right of redeeming an inherit- 
ance that had been forfeited or alien- 
ated, but had also authority to slay 
on the spot the person who had slain 
his relative. But as a man might 
casually kill another against whom 
he had no ill will, and with whom 
he had no quarrel, and might thus 



they shall be your refuge from 
the avenger of blood. 

4 And when he that doth flee 
unto one of those cities shall 
stand at the entering of Hhe 

L Rulh 4. 1. 2. 



be liable to lose his own life unde- 
servedly, at the hands of the avenger 
of blood J these privileged cities were 
wisely and humanely appointed for 
the protection of those who had com- 
mitted accidental homicide, till the 
cause could receive a judicial hear- 
ing from the magistrate. They had 
authority, according as, upon strict 
examination, they found him guilty 
or not of wilful murder, to deliver 
him up to the avenger of bloody or, 
after the lapse of a certain time, to 

grant him a discharge. IT By the 

hand of Moses. By the agency, by 
the ministry of Moses ; by him as an 
organ of communication. 

3, 'T%e slayer that killeth any per- 
son. Heb. IZ;^^ n-?0 moMkeh nephesh, 
that smitcth (i. e. fatally) any soul. 
On this freqaent sense of the word 

' soul,' see Note on Gen. 12. 5. 

IT Unaiuares and umcittiTigly. Heb. 
n^^tz;;} bishgagah, through ignorance^ 
error ^ and mistake^ and ujithout know- 
ledge. The conditions are stated 
wdth the idniost explicitness, in words 
amounting almost to repetition, as is 
evidently proper where a matter of 
so much consequence as the life of a 
human being is concerned. In cases 
of loilful murder, no place whatever 
could afford protection. A man 
might be taken even from the temple, 
or the horns of the altar. Ex. 21. 14 ; 
2 Kings 2. 31,34. 

4. Shall stand at the entering of the 
gate. The usual place of judicature 
among the people of the East. 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XX. 



183 



gate of the city, and shall de- 
clare his cause in the ears of the 
elders of that city, they shall 
take him into the city unto them, 
and give him a place, that he 
may dwell among them. 

5 " And if the avenger of blood 
pursue after him, then they 
shall not deliver the slayer up 
into his hand ; because he smote 
his neighbor unwittingly, and 
hated him not before-time. 

6 And he shall dwell in that 
city, '^ until he stand before the 

c Num. 35. 12. a Num. 35. 12, 25. 

IF Shall declare his cause. Shall give 
a true, honest, and exact statement 
of all the circumstances under which 

the accident occurred. H They 

shall take him into the city. Heb. 
in5< 1DD&5 asephu otho^ shall gather 
him. Provided they are satisfied, 
from his relation of the facts, that he 

is innocent. ^\ That he may dwell 

amo7ig them. It may be asked why, 
if the proper judges were satisfied of 
his innocence of the crime of wilful 
murder, he were not at once dismiss- 
ed from their jurisdiction, and suf- 
fered to go at large as nsnal. The 
proper reply doubtless is, (1) That 
he might still be in danger from the 
enraged passions of the pursuer. (2) 
He was to await the issue of another 
trial, V. 6. (3) His detention was 
probably designed as somewhat of 
a punishment for the rashness or 
heedlessness to which the homicide 
was owing. Something of a penalty 
was to be paid for carelessness, as 
well as for crime. 

6. Until he stand before the congre- 
gation for judgment. In order to a 
still greater security for the interests 
of justice, and to guard with the 



congregation for judgment, and 
until the death of the high priest 
that shall be in those days : then 
shall the slayer return, and come 
unto his own city, and unto his 
own house, unto the city from 
whence he fled. 

7 IT And they appointed ' Ke- 
desh in Galilee in mount Naph- 
tali, and ^Shechem in mount 
Ephraim, and ^Kirjath-arba, 
(which is Hebron) in ^the 
mountain of Judah. 

e ch. 21. 32. 1 Chron. 6. 76. f ch. 21. 21. 
2 Chron. 10. 1. g ch. 14. 15, and 21. 11, 13. 
h Luke 1. 39. 

Utmost vigilance against a wrong 
decision, another hearing seems to 
have been appointed, after a consi- 
derable interval, and before a larger 
court, whose verdict was to be final 
in the case. It is probable that the 
' congregation ' here spoken of was 
that of his own city, or of the people 
at large, who were also allowed to 
constitute a tribunal, and to sit in 
judgment on the case. Compare 

Notes on Num. 35. 25. ^ Until the 

death of the high priest. See on Num. 
35. 25. 

7. And they appointed. Heb. 
llD^p^ yakdishu^ sanctified^ const- 
crated ; a term implying the peculiar 
sacredness which God would have 
attached in the minds of his people 
to this institution. Accordingly they 
are sometimes, though not perhaps 
by the sacred writers, called sanctu- 

aries. ^ In mount Naphtali. Or, 

Heb. 'in the mountain,' i. e. the 
mountainous region or district of 
Naphtali ; and so in respect to the- 
two other places mentioned. They 
were situated on high hills that they 
might be more conspicuous at a dis- 
tance. It may also be remarked of 



184 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



8 And on the other side Jor- 
dan by Jericho eastward, they 
assigned 'Bezer in the wilder- 
ness upon the plain out of the 
tribe of Reuben, and ^ Ramoth 
in Gilead out of the tribe of 
Gad, and ^ Golan in Bashan out 
of the tribe of Manasseh. 

9 "" These were the cities ap- 
pointed for all the children of 
Israel, and for the stranger that 
sojourneth among them, that 
whosoever killeth any person at 
unawares might flee thither, and 
not die by the hand of the aven- 

i Deut. 4. 43. ch. 21. 36. 1 Chron. 6. 78. 
k ch. 21. 38. 1 Kings 22. 3. i ch. 21. 27. 
m Num. 35. 15. 

these cities, (1) That they were lo- 
cated at convenient distances from 
each other for the benefit of the sev- 
eral tribes. So of those here men- 
tioned, Kedesh was in the northern, 
Shechem in the central, and Hebron 
in the southern district of Canaan. 
(2) They were all Levitical cities ; 
which appears to have been so order- 
ed, that the cases of manslaughter 
might come under the cognizance of 
those who might be presumed to be 
most thoroughly versed in the law 
of God, and most competent to give 
judgment according to it, and who, 
moreover, would be less likely than-, 
any others to be swayed by private 
bias in their decisions. Compare 
Deut. 21. 5, where it is said of the 
priests, the sons of Levi, that • by their 
word shall every controversy and 
every stroke be tried.' See also to 
the same purpose^ Deut. 17. 8-13, and 
the Notes on Deut. 33. 9, 10. 

8. They assigned. Or, ' had as- 
signed,' for t-he assignment had been 
previously made by Moses, Deut. 4. 
41-43 J or the meaning may be, that 



ger of blood, "until he 
before the congregation. 



stood 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THEN came near the heads 
of the fathers of the Le- 
vites unto ^Eleazar the priest, 
and unto Joshua the son of Nun, 
and unto the heads of the fathers 
of the tribes of the children of 
Israel ; 

2 And they spake unto them 
at ^ Shiloh in the land of Canaan, 
saying, ^ The Lord commanded 
by the hand of Moses to give us 

n ver. 6. a ch. 14. 1, and 17. 4. b ch. 18. 
1. c Num. 35. 2. 



they formally acknowledged, con- 
firmed, and ratified the selection that 
Moses had before made of these 
cities. 

9. Until he stood before the congre- 
gation. The judges and elders of 
the people, in trying civ^il and crimi- 
nal causes, always sat ; the persons 
who came for judgment, or w^ho were 
tried, always stood. Hence the ex- 
pressions so frequent in the Scripture, 
' Standing before the Lord, before 
the judges, before the elders,' &c. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

1. The heads of the fathers of the 
Levites. The most distinguished per- 
sons among the fathers, chiefs, or 
elders of the three families of Kohath, 
Gershom, and Merari, w^hich con- 
stituted the Uody of the tribe of Levi. 
They here make their petition pre- 
cisely at the time when it could be 
most conveniently granted, viz. just 
after the allotments had been made 
to the other tribes. Whether this 
was prior or subsequent to the desig- 
nation of the cities of refuge, men- 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXI. 



185 



cities to dwell in, with the sub- 
urbs thereof for our cattle. 

3 And the children of Israel 
gave unto the Levites out of 
their inheritance, at the com- 
mandment of the Lord, these 
cities and their suburbs. 

4 And the lot came out for the 

tioned in the foregoing chapter, it is 
not possible to determine. 

3. The children of Israel gave unto 
ike Levites. They cheerfully obeyed 
the divine command. They gave 
them cities out ol' their several in- 
heritances, without any fear of being 
impoverished by the appropriation. 
Nor will men ever find themselves 
sufferers in their temporal interests, 
in consequence of a liberal allowance 
to the ministers of the sanctuary. 
These cities were assigned by lot, 
that it might fully appear that God 
designed the Levites their habitations^ 
as he designed the others their inher- 
itances. The result of this arrange- 
ment would naturally be, that the 
Levites would be dispersed in every 
part of the land, to instruct the peo- 
ple in the knowledge of the divine 
law, to edify them by their example, 
to restrain them from idolatry, and 
prompt them to a constant adherence 
to the worship of Jehovah, the only 
true God. Thus the prophetic sen- 
tence of the patriarch. Gen. 49. 7, 
that they should be 'divided in Ja- 
cob, and scattered in Israel,' though 
originally carrying w^ith it a punitive 
import, Avas through the special 
mercy of heaven converted to a bless- 
ing to themselves and to the nation. 

IT These cities. Referring to 

those which are enumerated in the 
sequel of this chapter. 

4 And the lot came out. It would 
16^ 



families of the Kohathites : and 
'^the children of Aaron the 
priest, which were of the Levites, 
'had by lot out of the tribe of 
Judah, and out of the tribe of 
Simeon, and out of the tribe of 
Benjamin, thirteen cities. 

d ver. 8 19. e See ch. 24. S3. 

seem that a certain number of cities 
were previously designated and set 
apart en nio.sse^ as the habitations of 
the Levites, and that the 'particular 
appropriation of them to the several 
families and their branches was then 

determined by lot. TT The children 

of Aaron the priest. All the Kohath- 
ites were children of- Aaron, in being 
lineally descended from him, but they 
were not all priests; whereas the 
phrase ' children of Aaron ' here is 
but another name for the priest^j his 
successors in office; and these had 
their allotment of cities in the tribes 
of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin; 
the rest, who w^ere merely Levites 
and not priests, had their lot, as ap- 
pears from V. 5, in the tribes of 
Ephraim, Dan, and the half-tribe of 
Manasseh. The providence of God 
in this assignment is very remarka- 
ble, as in consequence of it the 
priestly part of Aaron's posterity, 
who were the stated ministers of the 
sanctuary, the seat of w^hich was 
afterwards to be fixed at Jerusalem, 
had their location nearest to that city, 
so that they were always conveniently 
situated with reference to the work 

to which they w^ere appointed. 

IT Thirteen cities. This was a large 
proportion for the present number 
of priests, which was small, but in 
view of the prospective increase of 
this body, and their future Avants, it 
was no more than was requisite. 



186 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



5 And '^the rest of the children 
of Kohath had by lot out of the 
families of the tribe of Ephraim, 
and out of the tribe of Dan, and 
out of the half tribe of Manas- 
seh, ten cities. 

6 And ^the children of Ger- 
shon had by lot out of the fami- 
lies of the tribe of Issachar, and 
out of the tribe of Asher, and 
out of the tribe of Naphtali, and 
out of the half-tribe of Manasseh 
in Bashan, thirteen cities. 

7 ^The children of Merari by 
their families had out of the 
tribe of Reuben, and out of the 
tribe of Gad, and out of the 
tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. 

8 'And the children of Israel 
gave by lot unto the Levites 

f ver. 20, &c. g ver. 27, &c. l' ver. 34, 
&c. i ver. 3. 

As to the nature of the tenure by 
which the Levites held these ap- 
propriated cities, the probability is 
that they had no other property in 
them than merely the right to certain 
places of habiiation, which they 
might let or sell, but always with 
the right of perpetual redemption ; 
and with the understanding that they 
were to return to them in the year 
of jubilee. But on this head see Notes 
on Lev. 25. 3*2, 33. 

5. Out of the tribe of Dan, &c., ten 
cities. A less number than was given 
out of the tribes above-mentioned, 
because their inheritance was less. 
The law by which the appropriation 
was to be regulated is contained Num. 
35. 8; ' And the cities which ye shall 
give shall be the possession of Israel; 
from them that have many (cities), 
ye shall give many ; but from them 
that liave few, ye shall give few ; 



these cities with their suburbs, 
^ as the Lord commanded by the 
hand of jMcses. 

9 TT And they gave out of the 
tribe of the children of Judah, 
and out of the tribe of the chil- 
dren of Simeon, these cities 
w4iich are here m.entioned by 
name, 

10 ^ Which the children of 
Aaron, being of the families of 
the Kohathites, icho were of the 
children of Levi, had : for theirs 
w^as the first lot. 

11 ""And they gave them the 
city of Arba the lather of "Anak 
(which city is Hebron) °in the 
h\\\-coiintry of Judah, with the 
suburbs thereof round about it. 

k Num. 35. 2. 1 ver. 4, ml Chron. 6. 
5. Gen. 23 
Luke 1. 39. 



every one shall give of his cities 
unto the Levites. according to his 
inheritance which he inheriteth.' It 
may be remarked, that there is no 
evidence that the priests were bound 
to liv^e in these and in no other cities. 
When the tabernacle was at Nob, 
both the priests and Levites dwelt 
there, 1 Sam. 21. 1-7; and when the 
worship of God was established at 
Jerusalem, multitudes both of priests 
and Levites resided there, though it 
was no Levitical city; as did the 
courses of the priests afterwards at 
Jericho. This was a circumstance 
which Moses had foreseen, and for 
Avhich he had provided, Deut. 18. 6, 
&c. So, on the other hand, persons 
belonging to the other tribes were not 
precluded from living in the Leviti- 
cal cities; as for instance Gibeah of 
Benjamin, which is here made a 
Levitical city, v. 17, was always 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXI. 



187 



12 But Pthe fields of the city, i 
and the villages thereof, gave 
they to Caleb, the son of Je- 
phunneh for his possession. 

13 IT Thus nhey gave to the 
children of Aaron the priest, 
'Hebron with her suburbs, to 
he a city of refuge for the slayer ; 
^ and Libnah with her suburbs, 

14 And ' Jattir with her sub- 
urbs, " and Eshtemoa with her 
suburbs, 

15 And "" Holon with her sub- 
urbs, ^and Debir with her sub- 
urbs, 

16 And 'Ain with her sub- 
urbs, ^and Juttah with her sub- 
urbs, and ^ Beth-shemesh with 
her suburbs ; nine cities out of 
those two tribes. 

17 And out of the tribe of 
Benjamin, •" Gibeon with her 
suburbs, '^Geba with her sub- 
urbs. 

IS Anathoth with her suburbs, 
and ' Almon with her suburbs ; 
four cities. 



p ch. 14. 14. 1 Chron. 6. 5, q 1 Chron. 
6. 57, ifec. r ch. 15. 54, and 20, 7. s ch. 15. 
42. t ch 15. 48 u ch. 15. 50. x 1 Chron. 
6. 58. ch. 15. 51. y ch. 15. 49. z 1 Chron. 
6. 59. ch. 15. 42. a ch. 15. 55. b ch. 15. 10. 
c ch. 18. 25. d ch. IS. 24. e See ch. 24. 33. 



peopled by the Benjamites, as ap- 
pears from Judg. 19. 

12. The fields of the city — gave they 
to Caleb. As it would not necessa- 
rily involve the exclusion of himself 
or his family from a residence in the 
city, he probably gave it to the priests 
in order to set an example to his 
brethren of cheerfully contributing 
to the maintenance of religion. See 
on ch. 14. 6-15. 

25. Tariach with her suburbs, and 
Gath-rimmon. In the parallel pas- 



19 All the cities of the chil- 
dren of Aaron, the priests, were 
thirteen cities with their sub- 
urbs. 

20 IT f And the families of the 
children of Kohath, the Levites 
which remained of the children 
of Kohath, even they had the 
cities of their lot out of the tribe 
of Ephraim. 

21 For they gave them ^She- 
chem with her suburbs in mount 
Ephraim, to be a city of refuge 
for the slayer ; and Gezer with 
her suburbs, 

22 And Kibzaim with her sub- 
urbs, and Beth-horon with her 
suburbs ; four cities. 

23 And out of the tribe of Dan, 
Eltekeh with her suburbs, Gib- 
bethon with her suburbs, 

24 Aijalon with her suburbs, 
Gathrimmon with her suburbs ; 
four cities. 

25 And out of the half tribe 
of Manasseh, Tanach with her 
suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with 
her suburbs ; two cities. 

26 All the cities were ten with 
their suburbs, for the families of 

f ver. 5. 1 Chron. 6. 66. g ch. 20. 7. 

sage, 1 Chron. 6. 70, Aner and Bi- 
leam are mentioned instead of the 
above. A careful examination of 
the two catalogues will discover sev- 
eral other discrepancies of the same 
kind, which are probably owing to 
the fact, either that some of the cities 
were called by different names, or 
that their names in process of time 
were changed. Others conjecture 
that some of the cities here enume- 
rated being at this time in possession 
of the Canaanites, and not easily to 



188 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



the children of Kohath that re- 
maineth. 

27 *W ^' And unto the children 
of Gershon, of the families of 
the Levites, out of the other 
half-tribe of Manasseh they gave 
' Golan in Bashan with her sub- 
urbs, to be a city of refuge for 
the slayer, and Beeshterah with 
her suburbs; two cities. 

28 And out of the tribe of 
Issachar, Kishon with her sub- 
urbs, Dabareh with her suburbs, 

29 Jarmuth with her suburbs, 
Engannim with her suburbs ; 
four cities. 

30 And out of the tribe of 
Asher, Mishal with her sub- 
urbs, Abdon with her suburbs, 

31 Helkath with her suburbs, 
and Rehob with her suburbs ; 
four cities. 

32 And out of the tribe of 
Naphtali, ^Kedesh in Galilee 
with her suburbs, to be a city 
of refuge for the slayer ; and 
Hammoth-dor with her suburbs, 
and Kartan with her suburbs ; 
three cities. 

33 All the cities of the Ger- 
shonites, according to their fami- 
lies, ivere thirteen cities with 
their suburbs. 

34 TF ^ And unto the families 



h ver. 6. 1 Chron. 6. 71. i ch. 20. 6. 
k ch. 20. 7. 1 ver. 7. See 1 Chron. 6. 77. 



be taken out of their hands, others 
were given them in their stead. 

41. All the cities — were forty and 
eight cities, with their suburbs. This 
was in exact accordance with the 
direction given by Moses several 
years before, as we learn from Num. 
35. 7. This order of Moses is a di- 



of the children of Merari, the 
rest of the Levites, out of the 
tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with 
her suburbs, and Kartah with 
her suburbs, 

35 Dimnah with her suburbs, 
Nahalal with her suburbs ; four 
cities. 

36 And out of the tribe of 
Reuben, ™Bezer with her sub- 
urbs, and Jahazah with her sub- 
urbs, 

37 Kedemoth with her sub- 
urbs, and Mephaath with her 
suburbs ; four cities. 

38 And out of the tribe of Gad, 
"Ramoth in Gilead with her 
suburbs, to be a city of refuge 
for the slayer ; and Mahanaim 
with her suburbs, 

39 Heshbon with her suburbs, 
Jazer with her suburbs ; four 
cities in all. 

40 So all the cities for the 
children of Merari by their fami- 
lies, which were remaining of 
the families of the Levites, were 
by their lot twelve cities. 

41 ° All the cities of the Le- 
vites within the possession of 
the children of Israel were forty 
and eight cities with their sub- 
urbs. 

42 These cities were every 
one with their suburbs round 

m ch. 20. 8. n ch. 20. 8. o Num. 35. 7 

rect demonstration that it was giveu 
under divine inspiration, as other- 
wise, how could he possibly have 
known that so many cities could bt 
assigned to the Levites, without un- 
duly encroaching on the limits oi 
the other tribes 1 
42. These cities were every one with 



13. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXII. 



189 



about them. Thus were all 
these cities. 

43 IT And the Lord gave unto 
Israel ^ali the land which he 
sware to give unto their fathers : 
and they possessed it, and dwelt 
therein. 

44 ^ And the Lord gave them 
rest round about, according to 
all that he sware unto their fa- 
thers : and ^ there stood not a 

P Gen. 13. 15, and 15. 18, and 26, 3, and 
28. 4, 13. q ch. 11. 23, and 22. 4. 

their suburbs round about them. Heb. 
* these cities were city, city, and sub- 
urbs round about them.' That is, 
they each and everyone had suburbs 
attached to them ; by which is meant 
the adjacent territory to the extent of 
two thousand cubits on every side : 
of which see Num. 35. 5. 

43. And the Lord gave unto Israel 
all the land, &c. The foregoing his- 
tory is here wound up by a suitable 
acknowledgment of the faithfulness 
of God, in the performance of all his 
promises. The CanaaniteSj it is true, 
were yet in possession of some parts 
of the country, but they were so far 
subdued, that they gave them no se- 
rious molestation, and they were ena- 
bled to sit down in their possessions 
in the enjoyment of comparative rest 
and quiet. They had as much of the 
land in actual possession as they 
could occupy ; and as they increased 
God enabled them, according to his 
promise, Ex. 23. 30, to carry forward 
the w^ork of extermination, and ob- 
tain further room for their settlement. 
All the assurances given to Joshua, 
ch. 1. 5, of a successful tide of victo- 
ries during his life, were accomplish- 
ed, and as to the subsequent annoy- 
ance and occasional prevalence of 



man of all their enemies before 
them ; the Lord delivered all 
their enemies into their hand. 

45 ' There failed not aught of 
any good thing which the Lord 
had spoken unto the house of 
Israel ; all came to pass. 

CHAPTER XXIL 

THEN Joshua called the 
Reubenites, and the Gad- 

r Deut. 7. ^. s ch. 23. 14. 



their enemies, it was owing solely to 
the supineness and infidelity of Isra- 
el. So long as thej^ w^ere obedient, 
they were uniformly triumphant and 
prosperous. See notes on ch. 1. 5. 
' The inviolable truth of God's prom- 
ise, and the performance of il to the 
utmost, is what all the saints have 
been ready to bear their testimony 
to ; and if in any thing it has seemed 
to come short, they have been as 
ready to own that they themselves 
must bear all the blame.' Henry. ' In 
due season all the promises of God 
will be accomplished to his true peo- 
ple ; and their believing hope, and 
patient w^aiting and self-denying obe- 
dience, will terminate in joyful songs 
of triumph, and thankful «elebra- 
tions of his faithfulness, love, and 
power. Then it will be universally 
acknowledged that there hath not 
failed ought of any good thing which 
the Lord had spoken : nay, that he 
has exceeded their largest expecta- 
tions, and made them more than con- 
querors, and brought them to their 
delightful rest and inheritance. May 
none of us at that season be found 
among his enemies, " who shall be 
destroyed for ever." ' ^cott. 



190 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



ites, and the half-tribe of Ma- 
nasseh, 

2 And said unto them, Ye 
have kept "all that Moses the 
servant of the Lord commanded 
you, ^ and have obeyed my voice 
in all that I commanded you : 

3 Ye have not left your breth- 
ren these many days unto this 
day, but have kept the charge 
of the commandment of the 
Lord your God. 



a Numb. 32. 20. 
16, 17. 



Deut. 3. 18. b ch. 1. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

1. Then Joshua caMed, &c. The 
war being now, for the present at 
least, concluded, and their services 
no longer required. 

3. Ye have not left your brethren 
these many days unto this day. Pro- 
bably for the space of seven years ; 
for the people were occupied for this 
period of time in .subduing the land. 
Yet it is very possible that in the in- 
tervals of action, and when the rest 
of the army had retired into winter- 
quarters, some of them at least may 
have v^isited their families across the 
Jordan, or been relieved by other de- 
tachments, though we have no clear 
intimation that this was the fact. 
Certain it is that these two tribes and 
a half had always their quota of men, 
originally amounting to 40,000, in 
readiness at their respective posts, 
for any service to which they might 
be called; and after so long a delay 
we can easily imagine how ardently 
they must have longed for the period 
of their release, when they could re- 
turn to their peaceful homes to be 
met with a joyful Avelcome by their 
wives and children. But like faith- 
ful soldiers they await the full close 



4 And now the Lord your 
God hath given rest unto your 
brethren, as he promised them : 
therefore now return ye, and get 
you unto your tents, and unto 
the land of your possession, 
•^ which Moses the servant of 
the Lord 2;ave you on the other 
side Jordan. 

5 But '^ take diligent heed to do 
the commandment and the law, 
which Moses the servant of the 



c Num. 32. 33. Deut. 29. 8. ch. 13. 8. 
d Deut. 6. 6, 17, and 11. 22. 

of the war and an honorable dis- 
charge. Had they departed sooner 
they would have been recalled as fu- 
gitives or branded as cowards ; now 
they retire with blessings and ap- 
plause. So though our home in hea- 
ven be ever so attractive, we are re- 
quired to remain contentedly on earth 
till our warfare be accompli^shed, and 
instead of anticipating our removal, 
to wait for a due discharge at the 
hands of our divine Leader. 

4. Get you unto your tents. To 
your settled habitations, frequently 
called tents in the scriptures. 2 Sam. 
18. 17; Hos. 9. 6; Mai. 2. 12. It is 
probable, however, that they still re- 
tained somewhat of the nomade hab- 
its of their ancestors, and that tents 
were by no means uncommon among 
them. 

5. Take diligent heed, &c. Joshua 
thinks it not enough merely to dis- 
miss them with the commendations 
which their zeal and fidelity had so 
richly merited, but in the spirit of a 
true servant of God, adds to his en- 
comiums the most pious counsels 
and exhortations. It is not simply a 
general admonition relative" to their 
religious duties, in which case one 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXIL 



191 



Lord charged you, ^ to love the 
Lord your God, and to walk in 
all his ways, and to keep his 
commandments, and to cleave 
unto him, and to serve him with 
all your heart, and with all your 
soul. 
6 So Joshua TDlessed them, 

e Deui. 10. 12. 

or two brief iniimalions would have 
sufficed, but the expressions are re- 
markably varied and accumulated, 
to show in the most forcible manner 
the unspeakable importance to every 
child of man of a life of devoted 
obedience. They were to give the 
most diligent heed to themselves to 
see that the love of God, as the great 
ruling principle of action, was deep- 
ly seated in their hearts ; this must 
be evinced .by the universality of 
their obedience, extending to every 
divine precept, and still further illus- 
trated by the constancy, humility, res- 
olution, and affection which were to 
characterize their walk. Counsel 
like this can never be unseasonable 
or superfluous. Even the most estab- 
lished Christian, whose progress in 
holiness has hitherto been most ex- 
emplary, cannot deem himself be- 
yond the need of similar exhorta- 
tions. As long as he abides in the 
flesh he needs to be ' put in remem- 
brance of these things, though he 
knows them, and be established in 
the present truth.' Especially does 
he need these kindly monitions w^hen 
settled down, or about to be settled 
down, in a state of peace and pros- 
perity ; for such a state is one of pe- 
culiar danger to his spiritual inter- 
ests. These disbanded soldiers of 
Israel w^ere now returning to the bo- 
som of their families, and the peace- 



and sent them away ; and they 
went unto their tents. 

7 ll" Now to the one half of 
the tribe of Manasseh, Moses 
had given possession in Bashan : 
-but unto the other half thereof 
o;ave Joshua anions; their breth- 

f Gen. 47. 7. Exod. 39. 43. ch. 14. 13. 2 
Sam. 6. 18. Luke 24. 50. - ch. 17. 5. 



ful prosecution of their worldly busi- 
ness. They needed, therefore, to be 
reminded of the danger, of which 
Moses had long before warned them, 
of forgetting the Lord their God while 
enjoying ' houses w^hich they built 
not, wells which they digged not. 
and vineyards which they planted 
not.' A constant mindfulness of God 
accordingly w^as the great object of 
Joshua's solicitude for his departing 
brethren, and in his example w^e see 
the spirit of a Christian parent or 
guardian, and what kind of counsel 
he will be most anxious to impart to 
the children of his charge w^hen 
about to retire from his immediate 
control and enter upon the wide stage 
of action in the world. 

6. So Joshua blessed them. Spake 
respectfully of their faithful services, 
wished them every spiritual and tem- 
poral good, and prayed earnestly to 
God to protect and prosper them. 
They undoubtedly returned with all 
convenient expedition. It had been 
a long absence, and the meeting w^as 
no doubt proportionably happy. 
Here below^, business, journeys, voy- 
ages, and other casualties are con- 
tinually separating the dearest rela- 
tives ; but they are glad to get home 
in peace. How much happier for 
the Christian pilgrim, when his war- 
fare of life is accomplished, and re- 
ceiving the divine blessing, to cross 



192 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C 1444. 



ren on this side Jordan west- 
ward. And when Joshua sent 
them away also unto their tents, 
then he blessed them, 

8 And he spake unto them, 
saying, Return with much rich- 
es unto your tents, and with ve- 
ry much cattle, with silver, and 
with gold, and with brass, and 
with iron, and with very much 
raiment : ^ divide the spoil of 
your enemies with your breth- 
ren. 

9 IT And the children of Reu- 
ben, and the children of Gad, 
and the half-tribe of Manasseh 
returned, and departed from the 

h Num. 31. 27. 1 Sam. 30. 14. 

Jordan, and meet his brethren in 
glory, the family of God ! 

7. To the one half of the tribe of 
Manasseh^ <fcc. This appears to 
come in here as a parenthesis, inti- 
mating the reason why the tribe was 
divided into two parts. Moses had 
before assigned one half of them 
their lot on the other side Jordan. 

8. Divide the spoil of your enemies 
with your brethren. Your brethren 
that have remained on the other side 
of the Jordan, protecting yonr fami- 
lies, flocks, and goods. It is not im- 
plied, however, that those who re- 
mained at home were to have an 
equal share of the spoil, as this would 
have been manifestly unjust from 
their superior numbers and inferior 
claims. See on INum. 31. 27. 

10. The borders of Jordan. Heb. 
mi'^i^ geliloth, properly the wind- 
ings, meanderings made by the Jor- 
dan in its course, sometimes assum- 
ing almost a circular form, in ac- 
cordance with the sense of the origi- 
nal term, which is used in some ca- 



children of Israel out of Shiloh, 
which is in the land of Canaan, 
to go unto ' the country of Gile- 
ad, to the land of their posses- 
sion, whereof they were pos- 
sessed, according to the word 
of the Lord by the hand of 
Moses. 

10 IT And when they came 
unto the borders of Jordan, that 
are in the land of Canaan, the 
children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad, and the half- 
tribe of Manasseh built there an 
altar by Jordan, a great altar to 
see to. 

11 1T And the children of Is- 

1 Num. 32. 1, 26, 29. 

ses to signify a ring. The altar was 
doubtless erected on the eastern side 
of the Jordan, bat it might have been 
situated upon a projecting tongue or 
promontory of land, that extended 
into the borders of Canaan proper. 
The reader will observe, moreover^ 
that the word ' are,' being printed in 
Italics, does not occur in the origi- 
nal, so that we may as properly ren- 
der it ' is,' and understand the re- 
lative ' that' of the river Jordan. 

IT A great altar to see to. Very con-- 
spicuous. Heb. 'an altar great to 
the sight.' A vast mass of earth, 
stones, &c., elevated to a command- 
ing height and visible at a great dis- 
tance ; intended merely as a memo- 
rial to all future ages that they be- 
longed to the tribes of Israel, and 
that they were worshippers of Israel's 
God, but made in imitation of the 
altar of burnt-offering at the taber- 
nacle. Their motive in this was an 
apprehension that at some future pe- 
riod they might be disowned by their 
brethren on account of their not hav- 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXII. 



193 



rael '^ heard say, Behold, the 
children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad, and the half- 
tribe of Manasseh, has^e built 
an altar over a2:ainst the land of 
Canaan, in the borders of Jor- 

k Dexit. 13. 12, &c. Judg. 20. 12. 

ing their inheritance in the land of 
Canaan proper, 

1 1 . Have built an altar over against 
the land of Canaan. This may be 
deemed conclusiv^e proof that the site 
of the altar was on the east of the 
Jordan, in the inheritance of the tvro 
tribes and a half, and not on the wesL 
There would have been no cause of 
suspecting it designed for sacrifice, 
had it been built on the Canaan side 
of Jordan. 

12. The whole congregation — gath- 
€red themselves together. Not per- 
haps in their own persons, but by 
their representatives the elders, who 
transacted all affairs of this nature 
ia the name and behalf of the peo- 
ple. % To go up to vjar against 

them. The case was one that laid a 
iust ground for suspicion. Having 
no conception of an altar being erect- 
ed for any purpose but that of sacri- 
fice, the other tribes naturally re- 
garded it as an act of rebellion 
against God, and determined in- 
stantly to go and punish the suppos- 
ed apostates. By an express com- 
mand, Ex. 20. 24 : Lev. 17. 8, 9 : Deut. 

12. 5-13, the nation had been pro- 
hibited from worshipping God except 
at one altar, and for what other than 
a religious purpose could this struc- 
ture have been reared ? They more- 
over felt themselves impelled to this 
course by the tenor of the law, Deut. 

13. 7-13, requiring the most sum- 
mary judgment to be executed upon 

17 



dan, at the passage of the chil- 
dren of Israel. 

12 And when the children of 
Israel heard of it^ 4he whole 
congregation of the children of 
Israel gathered themselves to- 

1 Judg. 20. 1. 

the individuals or cities that should 
be found setting up an idolatrous wor- 
ship. Their zeal for the Lord of 
hosts under this impression was very 
commendable. Though these trans- 
Jordanic tribes are their own breth- 
ren, bone of their bone, companions 
with them in tribulation in the wil- 
derness, and their generous allies in 
the wars of Canaan, yet if they re- 
volt from the true God and turn to 
the service of idols, or openly make 
a breach in the unity of his worship 
they are determined to treat them no 
longer as brethren, but as enemies 
who were to be cut off as unsparingly 
as the Canaanites themselves. Their* 
holy jealousy, therefore, in these cir- 
cumstances was no more than a pro- 
per expression of their intense con- 
cern for the glory of God and the 
honor of his institutions. But their 
zeal was tempered with the meek- 
ness of wisdom, and before proceed- 
ing to extremities they determined to 
send an embassy to inquire into the 
facts, and if their suspicions were 
confirmed, to see whether they could 
not be prevailed upon by milder 
methods to abandon their wicked en- 
terprise and return to their allegi- 
ance to the God of Israel. Instead 
of saying that the case was too clear 
to admit of doubt, or too gross to al- 
low of apology, they evidently go on 
the presumption that they may have 
been mistaken in their construction 
of the affair, and that at any rate it 



194 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



gether at Shiloh, to go up to 
war against them. 

13 And the children of Israel 
" sent unto the children of Reu- 
ben, and to the children of Gad, 
and to the half-tribe of Manas- 
seh into the land of Gilead, 
" Phinehas the son of Eleazar 
the priest, 

14 And with him ten princes, 
of each chief house a prince 
throughout all the tribes of Is- 
rael ; and ° each one was a 
head of the house of their fa- 
in Deut. 13. 14. Jadg. 20. 12. n Exod. 

6. 25. Num. 25. 7. 

was proper that they should not con- 
demn their brethren unheard, but 
should give them the opportunity of 
justifying themselves in the measure 
if it were possible. According to 
the wise man's direction they will 
'upon good advice make war.' A 
noble example of moderation, for- 
bearance, and charity, shines forth in 
this conduct. How many an un- 
happy strife might be prevented by 
similar precaution, by simply staying 
to inquire calmly into that which 
constitutes the avowed matter of 
offence ! How often would a few 
words of candid explanation smother 
in embryo the most angry controver- 
sies, violent quarrels, and embittered 
persecutions! By barely adopting 
the prudent conduct of Israel on 
this occasion, individuals, families, 
churcheSj and communities, might, 
in a thousand instances, be saved a 
world of jealousy, enmity, discord, 
war and bloodshed. 

13, 14. Phineas — and vnth him ten 
princes. Persons of age, experience, 
and approved discretion, possessing 
weight of character in the congrega- 



thers among the thousands of 
Israel. 

15 IT And they came unto the 
children of Reuben, and to the 
children of Gad, and to the half- 
tribe of Manasseh, unto the land 
of Gilead, and they spake with 
them, saying, 

16 Thus saith the whole con- 
gregation of the Lord, What 
trespass is this that ye have com- 
mitted against the God of Israel, 
to turn away this day from fol- 
lowing the Lord, in that ye 

Num. 1. 4. 



lion, and likely to be influenced more 
by the dictates of cool judgment than 
of hasty passion, were very properly 
selected to act in behalf of the people 
on this occasion. The ardent tem- 
perament of younger men could not 
so safely be trusted on such a trying 
emergency. 

16. What trespass is this, &c. 
Without acquitting the ten tribes of 
the charge of somewhat of an undue 
precipitancy in taking up their un- 
favorable impressions, the matter in 
question was one on which they were 
justified in feeling strongly and act- 
ing promptly. As it now appeared, 
it was a step fraught with the most 
momentous consequences to the 
whole body of Israel. Repeated oc- 
casions had arisen wherein the sin 
of individuals had been visited upon 
the entire nation. The iniquity of 
Achan had not long since caused the 
defeat of Israel's hosts, together with 
the loss of six and thirty men ; and 
not very long before the connexion 
of many with the Midianitish women 
had brought destruction on twenty- 
four thousand Israelites in one day. 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXIL 



195 



have builded you an altar, p that 
ye might rebel this day against 
the Lord ? 

17 Is the iniquity "^ of Peor too 
little for us, from which we are 
not cleansed until this day, al- 
though there was a plague in 
the congregation of the Lord, 

18 But that ye must turn away 
this day from following the 

P Lev. 17. 8, 9. Deut. 12. 13, 14. q Num. 
25. 3, 4. Deut. 4. 3. 

What then could be expected, bat 
that, if those who had erected the 
altar should go unpunished^ God 
would punish all the other tribes as 
partners in their guilt 1 And if for- 
merly one man's sin wrought so 
much indignation, what would be 
the consequences of the apostasy of 
two tribes and a half? To av^ert so 
terrible an evil, therefore, they felt 
to be their bounden duty at all events, 
and in order to this nothing could be 
more effectual than plainly remind- 
ing them of the sad effects of past 
transgression. ' It is good to recol- 
lect and improv^e those instances of 
the wrath of God which have fallen 
out in our own time, and of which 
we ourselves have been eye-witness- 
es. The remembrance of great sins 
committed formerly, should engage 
us to stand upon our guard against 
the least occasions and beginnings of 
sin : for the way of sin is down-hill ' 
Henry. 

17. Is the iniquity of Peor too little 
for us? The iniquity of our wor- 
shipping Peor. Num. 25. 3 ; Deut. 4. 
3. Does this sin seem so small to us 
that we canno: be content with that, 
but must go on adding iniquity to in- 
iquity '? ^ From which we are not 

cleansed, until this day. That is, of 



Lord ? and it will be, seeing ye 
rebel to-day against the Lord, 
that to-morrow ''he will be wroth 
w4th the whole congregation of 
Israel 

1 9 Notwithstanding, if the land 
of your possession be unclean, 
then pass ye over unto the land 
of the possession of the Lord, 
'wherein the Lord's tabernacle 

r Num. 16. 22. s ch. 18. 1. 



which we have not ceased to suffer 
the consequences to this day. The 
wrath of God was indeed so far ap- 
peased on that occasion by the zeal 
of Phineas, that he stayed the farther 
ravages of the plague, yet the shame, 
the disgrace, the infamy of that trans- 
action still remained, and more than 
this, some tokens of the divine dis- 
pleasure still continued to linger 
among the congregation. As we 
see from the case of David, men may 
repent of a heinous transgression 
and be graciously freed from the 
guilt of it, while at the same time 
they may continue to suffer from its 
evil consequences even to the close 
of life. In the present instance, how- 
ever, the words may perhaps imply 
that some measure of that corrupt 
leaven still remained among them, 
that the infection was not wholly 
cured^ and that though suppressed 
for the present, it was still secretly 
working, and was liable to break out 
again with fresh violence, as is also 
intimated in the words of Joshua, 
ch. 24. 23. 

19. If the land of your possession 
be unclean. If you have any preju- 
dice against the land of your inher- 
itance ; if you think it not equally 
with ours under the divine favor 



196 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



dvvelleth, and take possession 
among us : but rebel not against 
the Lord, nor rebel against us, 
in building you an altar besides 
the altar of the Lord our God. 
20 ' Did not Achan the son of 
Zerah commit a trespass in the 
accursed thing, and wrath fell 

t ch. 7, 1, 5. 

and protection. They imagined that 
the two tribes and a half mi^^ht think 
their land less holy for the want of 
an altar and such tokens of the di- 
vine presence as pertained to the 
tabernacle. An opinion was gene- 
rally prevalent among the ancients, 
that those countries, in which there 
was no place set apart for the wor- 
ship of God, were unhallowed and 
unclean. The proposal displayed a 
very generous and disinterested spi- 
rit, a willingness to make sacrifices 
in order to preserve purity, and con- 
sequently peace. Rather than they 
should set up a separate altar from 
a groundless dissatisfaction with their 
inheritance, they would cheerfully 
welcome them back to the other side 
of the Jordan, 'w^here the Lord's ta- 
bernacle dwelt,' though they should 
straiten themselves by so doing. But 
vi^hat was a little inconvenience to 
themselves when such an evil was 
to be averted, and such a good se- 
cured 1 How kind, how conciliating, 
how self-denying, how eager for ac- 
commodation, is the spirit of true 

piety ! U But rebel not against the 

Lord. Implying that a deliberate 
departure from the instituted mode 
of worship is nothing short of down- 
right rebellion against the God of 
heaven. Compare with this the 
parallel expression of Samuel rela- 
tive to the conduct of Saul, 1 Sam. 



I on all the congregation of Isra- 
el ? and that man perished not 
alone in his iniquity. 

2 1 IT Then the children of Reu- 
ben, and the children of Gad, 
and the half-tribe of Manasseh 
answered, and said unto the 
heads of the thousands of Is- 
rael, 



15. 13. IT Besides the altar of the 

Lord our God. In addition to it. 

20. And that man perisheth not alone 
in his iniquity. The idea expressed 
in these words of our common trans- 
lation is unquestionably conveyed by 
the original ; still it is not an exact 
version. The literal rendering of 
the Heb. is, 'and he, one man, did 
not perish in his iniquity.' That is, 
though he were but a single individ- 
ual, and it might have been supposed 
that his death would have been the 
winding up of his existence in every 
respect, yet in reality such was his 
relation to the whole people as a sin- 
ner, such the connexion between his 
oifence and the punishment of the 
whole nation, that in one sense he 
may be said to have survived his 
own death. He still lived in the 
fearful effects of his transgression, 
as visited upon the entire congrega- 
tion. His life and his crime did not 
terminate together. A strikingly ana- 
logous passage occurs Num. 27. 3. 

21. Then the children of Reuben — 
ansivered. If we find somewhat to 
blame in each of the opposite parties ; 
in the one, an undue precipitation in 
building the altar, and in the other, 
an undue hastiness in ascribing it to 
wrong intentions, we yet behold very 
much to admire in both. When the 
accusers found themselves mistaken, 
they did not shift their ground, and 



B. 0. 1444. ] 



CHAPTER XXII. 



197 



22 The Lord " God of gods, 
the Lord God of gods, he 
*knoweth, and Israel he shall 
know ; if it be in rebellion, or 
it in transgression against the 
Lord, (save us not this day,) 

u Deut. 10. 17. X 1 Kings 8. 39. Job 10. 7, 
and 23. 10. Ps. 44. 21, and 139. 1, 2. Jer. 
12. 3. 2 Cor. 11. 11, 31. 

eondemn their brethren for impru- 
dence ; nor when the accused had 
■evinced their innocence, did they up- 
braid their accusers with hasty, rash, 
or unjust surmises. Aware that the 
measure was easily susceptible of the 
interpretation their brethren had put 
upon it, they took their reproofs, se- 
vere as they were, in good part, and 
instead of angry retorts or recrimi- 
nations, gave them the soft answer 
which turneth away wrath, and by a 
candid and honest declaration of their 
real intentions, at once set themselves 
right in the opinion of their brethren. 
22. The Lord God of gods. The 
original words nin"i D^^H^i^ ^^ El 
EloMm YehovoA^ are exceedingly 
emphatic, and cannot be easily trans- 
lated. They are the three principal 
names by which the supreme God 
was known among the Hebrews, and 
may be rendered ' The strong God, 
Elohim Jehovah,' which is nearly 
the version of Luther, ' Der starke 
Gott, der Herr,' the strong God^ the 
Lord. q. d. ' that almighty and om- 
niscient Jehovah, whom we as well 
as you acknowledge and adore as 
the God of gods, infinitely superior 
to all that are called gods — to him 
we appeal as knowing our inno- 
cency, and that we would shudder at 
the thought of forsaking or dividing 
his worship.' By this solemn ap- 
peal they would convince their breth- 
17* 



23 That we have built us an 
altar to turn from following the 
Lord, or if to offer thereon 
burnt-offering, or meat-offering, 
or if to offer peace-offerings 
thereon, let the Lord himself 
^require it ; 

7 Deut. 18. 19. 1 Sam. 20. 16. 



ren that their religious faith was 
unchanged, and their future conduct, 
they also intimate, should satisfy all 
Israel that with clean hands and an 
upright heart they had engaged in 
this undertaking. Where there is 
evidence of a deep and heart-felt rev- 
erence for God, there is the best se- 
curity for pure intentions and a 

blameless course of conduct. 

IT Save us not this day. Let God the 
Judge cause us to perish by the sword 
of our enemies or of our brethren, if 
either in principle or practice we 
have knowingly departed from him. 
It is a sudden apostrophe to God, 
prompted by strong emotion and fre- 
quently occurring in speeches of a 
very earnest and vehement charac- 
ter, and highly expressive of con- 
scious integrity. 

23. Let the Lord himself require it. 
Requite it. Let him call us to ac- 
count for it and punish us as the of- 
fence may deserve, as the word ' re- 
quite,' often signifies. See on Gen, 
9. 5 ; Deut. 18. 19 ; 1 Sam. 20. 16. 
The trans- Jordanic tribes were ac- 
cused of erecting an altar prohibited 
by the law, and that with the design 
of apostatizing from the true religion* 
They in their answer imply that the 
law is not violated except by altars 
intended for sacrifice ; but such was 
not theirs, as they show by specify- 
ing the three principal uses of the 



198 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



24 And if we have not rather 
done it for fear of this thing, 
saying, In time to come your 
children might speak unto our 
children, saying, What have ye 
to do with the Lord God of Is- 
rael ? 

25 For the Lord hath made 

divinely appointed altar, and deny- 
ing that they contemplated either of 
these uses in erecting theirs. 

2^. For fear of tkis thing. What 
this thing was they immediately go 
on to state. They were apprehen- 
sive of certain consequences result- 
ing from their local separation from 
their brethren, which are fully de- 
tailed in the ensuing verses. The 
original word for ' fear' denotes a 
great perplexity and solicitude of 
mind bordering upon actual distress. 
It occurs Prov. 12. 25, where it sig- 
nifies affliction. The amount of 
their answer is, that they were actu- 
ated by motives directly the reverse 

of those attributed to them. IF In 

time to come. Heb. ' to-morrow.' 
See note on ch. 4. 6. 

25. So shall your children make 
our children cease from fearing the 
Lord. The danger to which they 
allude was not immediate, but pros- 
pective. There was little probabil- 
ity of their being disowned by their 
brethren of the present generation, 
but their children might be looked 
upon in after ages as having no in- 
terest in the God of Israel, or his in- 
stituted worship. The consequence 
would be, that, being cut oif from 
public ordinances, the life and pow- 
er of religion would die out from 
among them, they would become 
reckless of their duty and allegiance 
to God, wickedness would abound, 



Jordan a border between us and 
you, ye children of Reuben and 
children of Gad ; ye have no 
part in the Lord. So shall 
your children make our children 
cease from fearing the Lord. 

26 Therefore we said. Let us 
now prepare to build us an al- 



and they would sink to a state cf 
comparative heathenism. This was 
a prospect of which they could not 
endure to think. It was a state of 
things to be by all means averted; 
and though it would perhaps have 
been better to have consulted Joshua, 
or rather to have taken counsel of the 
Lord, respecting this measure before 
they carried it into execution, yet 
this solicitude for the spiritual wel- 
fare of their posterity cannot be too 
highly praised. Nothing weighs 
more deeply on the truly pious heart, 
than the transmission to the latest 
generations of those inestimable re- 
ligious privileges, which have been 
the comfort and blessing of their fa- 
thers. If the outward institutions of 
piety are wanting in any commu- 
nity, the very existence of piety itself 
is endangered, and where that is 
the case, the judgments instead of 
the mercies of heaven will descend, 
as the inheritance of posterity. Yet, 
alas ! how much more anxious are 
thousands to entail upon their de- 
scendants ample worldly possessions, 
even at the hazard of all their better 
interests, than to perpetuate among 
them those invaluable means of 
grace which take hold on eternal 
life! God forbid that we should 
ever be willing that our children 
should dwell in splendid mansions, 
or revel in accumulated riches, on 
which ' Tchabod' is written \ 



B. C. 1444.] 



CHAPTER XXII. 



199 



tar, not for burnt-offering, nor 
fof sacrifice : 

27 But that it may he ^ a wit- 
ness between us, and you, and 
our generations after us, that we 
mio^ht ""do the service of the 
Lord before him with our burnt- 
offerings, and with our sacrifices, 
and with our peace-offerings ; 
that your children may not say 
to our children in time to come. 
Ye have no part in the Lord. 

28 Therefore said we, that it 
shall be, when they should so 
say to us or to our generations 
in time to come, that we may 
say agaiuj Behold the pattern 
of the altar of the Lord, which 
our fathers made, not for burnt- 
offerings, nor for sacrifices ; but 
it is a witness between us and 
you. 

29 God forbid that we should 

z Gen. 31- 48. ch.24. 27. ver. 34. a Deut. 
12.5, 6,11,12,17,13,26,27. 

27. That it may be a laitness. An 
indelible monument and assurance 
that we are as truly the Lord's peo- 
ple as yourselves, and entitled to 
share unto perpetuity in the same 
distinguishing services and privi- 
leges. 

28. Say to us, or to our generations 
in tivie to come. Rather according 
to the well-known Heb. idiom, ' say 
to us. evenio our generations.' It is 
evident that their fears concerned 
their offspring, and not themselves. 

If That we may say again. That 

is, that our posterity, who shall be 
then living, may say. See on ch. 4. 

23. IT Behold the pattern. Rather 

the copy; the exact representation 
and resemblance. This they would 
have regarded as a sign, a memorial. 



rebel against the Lord, and turn 
this day from following the 
Lord, ^to build an altar for 
burnt-offerings, for meat-offer- 
ings, or for sacrifices, besides 
the altar of the Lord our God 
that is before his tabernacle. 

30 IT And when Phinehas the 
priest, and the princes of the 
congregation, and heads of the 
thousands of Isi^el which were 
with him, heard the words that 
the children of Reuben, and the 
children of Gad, and the chil- 
dren of Manasseh spake, it 
pleased them. 

31 And Phinehas the son of 
Eleazar the priest said unto the 
children of Reuben, and to the 
children of Gad, and to the chil- 
dren of Manasseh, This day 
we perceive that the Lord is 
"^ among us, because ye have not 

b Deut. 12. 13, 14. c Lev. 26. 11, 12. 2 
Chron. 15. 2. 



that they both acknowledged and 
served the same God, and both made 
use of one and the same altar. 

31. This day we perceive that the 
Lord is among us. Rendered in the 
Targum of Jonathan, ' This day 
we know that the majesty of the 
Lord dwelleth among us, because ye 
have not committed this prevarica- 
tion against the Word of the Lord, 
and thus ye have delivered the child- 
ren of Israel from the liand of the 
Word of the Lord.' The sense un- 
doubtedly is, that the happy issue of 
the affair proved conclusively that 
God was among them by his prevent- 
ing goodness. Had their motives 
been less pure and conscientious 
than they were, the result would 
have been unquestionably far more 



200 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1444. 



committed this trespass against 
the Lord : now ye have deliv- 
ered the children of Israel out 
of the hand of the Lord. 

32 IT And Phinehas the son of 
Eleazar the priest, and the prin- 
ces, returned from the children 
of Reuben, and from the chil- 
dren of Gad, out of the land of 
Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, 
to the children of Israel, and 
brought them word again. 

33 And the thing pleased the 

disastrous. But as all unhappy con- 
sequences had been avoided^ the in- 
ference was inevitable that God was 
that day in the midst of them, that 
he had approved the spirit and mo- 
tives in which the step originated, 
and, accordingly, would not suffer a 
well meant design to be productive 
of the injurious and mournful eflfects 
which they at one time apprehended. 
The obvious lesson taught hy the 
passage is, that pure and pious mo- 
tives in our conduct secure the pre- 
sence of God with us, and conse- 
quently an exemption from the evils 
and disasters that would be sure to 
follow a contrary course. ' When a 
man's ways please the Lord, even 
his enemies shall be at peace with 
him.' How delightful to recognize 
the hand of a gracious Providence 
overruling the most untoward events 
and brightening the darkest pros- 
pects, in reference to his humble ser- 
vants, who are aiming to walk in 
his fear ! How desirable to aiford to 
others the evidence that God is with 
ss, and smiling upon us by the hap- 
py and prosperous results of all our 
undertakings ! ^ Ye have deliver- 
ed the children of Israel out of the 



children of Israel ; and the chil- 
dren of Israel '^ blessed God, and 
did not intend to go up against 
them in battle, to destroy the 
land wherein the children of 
Reuben and Gad dwelt. 

34 And the children of Reuben 
and the children of Gad called 
the altar ^ Ed : for it shall be a 
witness between us that the 
Lord is God. 



d 1 ChroQ. 29, 20. Neh. 8. 6. Dan. 2. 19. 
Luke 2. 28. e ch. 24. 27. 



hand of the Lord. As it is a sinful 
and perverse deportment that delivers 
us into the hand of God for punish- 
ment, so it is only repentance and a 
corresponding humble and conscien- 
tious' walk, that will deliver us out 
ofhis hand. The eflfect of our ex- 
ample on the public welfare should 
operate at once to deter us from 
transgression, and engage us in the 
practice of every moral virtue. 

32. Brought them word again. 
Made a full and faithful report of the 
whole transaction upon their return 
to their brethren. 

33. Did not intend to go up. Heb. 
' said not to go up.' So 2 Sam. 21. 
IGy 'And Ishbi-benob— thought to 
have slain David ;' Heb. ' said to 
have slain;' i. e. purposed, intended. 
They renounced the intention of 
going up. They had at first intend- 
ed it, but the statements of their de- 
legates convinced them there w^as no 
necessity for it^ and they accordingly 

abandoned the idea entirely. 

IT To destroy the land. To lay waste, 
to ravage, to make desolate the land. 

34. Called the altar Ed. It is re- 
markable that the last word in this 
clause, ' Edj' a witness^ is not found 



B C 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXllI 



201 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

AND it came to pass, a long 
time after that the Lord 

* had given rest unto Israel from 
all their enemies round about, 

a ch. 21. 44, and 22. 4. 

in the original, at least in the common 
copies, though others are said to 
contain it, and it occurs in the Ara- 
bic and Syriac versions. Our trans- 
lators have properly supplied it in 
Italics, as it is the word which the 
sense evidently requires. How it 
comes to be lacking in the common 
editions of the Heb. it is impossible 
to determine. This altar, upon which 
there was probably an inscription, 
was henceforth to be a witness of 
the relation in which they stood to 
God and to Israel, and of their con- 
currence with the rest of the tribes in 
the great fundamental truth, that 

* the Lord he is God,' he and no other, 
and that he Avas to be worshipped 
in no other way, and at no other 
place, than he had himself prescrib- 
ed. It was. moreover, a witness to 
posterity of their care to transmit 
their religion pure and unimpaired 
to them, and would be a witness 
against them, it' ever they should 
forsake God and turn to idolatry. — 
From the incidents above related we 
may gather, (1) That the best meant 
things may afford cause of suspicion ; 
as those are sometimes suspected of 
aiming to effect a breach in the unity 
of the church, v/ho are most dili- 
gently laboring to heal her divisions, 
and to preserve to posterity the purity 
of her doctrines and worship. (2) It 
can do our brethren no injury to be 
jealous over them with a godly jeal- 
ousy, even when we may be mis- 



that Joshua ^ waxed old and 
stricken in age. 
2 And Joshua ''called for all 
Israel, and for their elders, and 
for their heads, and for their 



I, ch. 13. 1. c Deut. 31. 
1 Chron. 28. 1. 



28. ch. 24. 1 



taken in our fears. (3) Nothing will 
so soon kindle the zeal of a faithful 
and dev^oted spirit, as the symptoms 
of apostasy from God in others, be- 
cause to such an one nothing is so 
dear as his glory. (4) Rising cor- 
ruptions and dangerous errors should, 
in the spirit of meekness, be resisted 
as soon as broached, lest the evil 
leaven, being permitted to spread, 
should leaven the whole mass. (5) 
The testimony of a good conscience 
is the most effectual support against 
the heaviest accusations. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

1, A long time after ^ &c. This is 
supposed to have been in the last or 
one hundred and tenth year of Josh- 
ua's life, about thirteen or fourteen 
years after the conquest of Canaan, 
and seven after the division of the 

land among the tribes. ^Old and 

stricken in years. Heb. d'^?3'^;3 i^!3 pt 
zaken ba bayamirti^ old (and) come^ 
or gone, into days. 

3. Called for all Israel, and for 
their elders, &c. Or, Heb. ' called 
for all Israel, eveji for their elders,' 
&c. clearly indicating that by 'all 
Israel,' is not meant the whole body 
of the nation assembled in their own 
persons, but their elders, heads, 
judges, &c., convened and acting 
representatively in the name of the 
people. They could easily commu- 
nicate the substance of the charge 
in their several districts, so that all 



202 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



judges, and for their officers, 
and said unto them, I am old 
and stricken in age : 

3 And ye have seen all that 
the Lord your God hath done 
unto all these nations because 
of you ; for the ^ Lord your 

a Exod 14. 14. ch. 10. 14, 42 

Israel could hear. This appears to 
have been the usual method of con- 
ducting the great and important af- 
fairs of the nation. See on Num. 
16. 1. Whether this assembly was 
held at Timnath-serah, where Joshua 
dwelt, or at Shiloh, where the ark 
was, it is not possible to determine. 
From the solemn object of the meet- 
ing we should infer that the latter 
was the place. 

3. Ye have seen, &c. Joshua here 
speaks with characteristic modesty 
and humility. The scope of his ad- 
dress is to engage the covenant 
people, and their seed after them, to 
persevere in upholding the true faith 
and w^orship of the God of Isi-ael. 
In order to this, he begins by putting 
them in mind of the divine interpo- 
sitions in their behalf He appeals 
to what their own eyes had seen, but 
so as at once to abase himself and 
exalt the Most High. He does not 



say. 



Ye have seen what I have 



done, or what you have done, but 
what God himself has done.' They 
were mere instruments in his hand. 
tt was no doubt natural for the Is- 
raelites to look upon their veteran 
general, who had led them on from 
conquest to conquest, with the most 
profound respect, and to say, ' Had 
we not had such a commander, we 
had never succeeded so remarkably 
in obtaining possession of this goodly 
land.' But Joshua will leave them 



God is he that hath fought foi 
you. 

4 Behold, * I have divided unto 
you by lot these nations that re- 
main, to be an inheritance foi 
your tribes, from Jordan, with 
all the nations that I have cut 

e ch. 13. 2, 6, and 18. 10. 



no ground for such reflections. He 
will not divide the glory of their suc- 
cess with God. He shows them that 
their enemies had been defeated, not 
by his prowess or theirs, but solely 
because the Lord their God had 
fought for them. The battle was the 
Lord's, and not his, and He was en- 
titled to all the glory. This senti- 
ment is strikingly reiterated by the 
Psalmist, Ps. 44. 3, ' For they got not 
the land in possession by their own 
ST\'ord, neither did their own arm 
save them ; but thy right hand, and 
thine arm, and the light of thy coun- 
tenance, because thou hadst a favor 
imto them.' The leader of Israel, in 
these words, speaks the language of 
every pious heart, in view of every 
species of worldly success and pros- 
perity. 

4. / have divided unto you by lot. 
Heb. tD^i "^nii&n hippaUi lakem^ 1 

have caused to fall unto you. 

fF Those stations that remain. That 
remain yet unconquered ; where 
' nations ' stands for the land, ar 
country which they occupied ; as on 
the contrary, ' land ' often stands for 
'nation,' or 'people.' Remnants of 
the devoted Canaanites still lingered 
about the country, though their ar- 
mies had long since been broken to 
pieces, and they were disabled from 
making any effectual head against 
Israel. 

5. And drive them from out — and m 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIIl. 



203 



off, even unto the great sea west- 
ward. 

5 And the Lord your God, 
^ he shall expel them from be- 
fore you, and drive them from 
cut of your sight 5 and ye shall 
possess their land, " as the Lord 
your God hath promised unto 
you. 

6 ^ Be ye therefore very cour- 
ageous to keep and to do all that 



f Exod. 23. 30, and 33. 2, and 34. U. Deut. 
11. 23. ch. 13. 6. g Num. 33. 53. h ch. 
1. 7. 



shall possess. The same Heb. word, 
ID^"^ yarash, is here used to signify, 
to expel from an inheritance^ and to 
succeed those thus expelled. Ye shall 
disinherit them from before you, and 
ye shall inherit the land in their 
stead. 

6.. Be ye therefore very courageous 
to keep and to do. See observations 
on ch. 1. 7-^9. 

T. That ye come not among these 
nations. That ye have no familiar 
intercourse, nor form intimate con- 
nexions with them ; which could not 
be done without contracting some 
measure of the deiilement which 
their idolatries and iniquities had 
brought upon them. ' Evil commu- 
nications corrupt good manners.' 
The prohibition, as appears from v. 
12, is pointed especially at intermar- 
riages with their heathen neighbors. 

^ Neither make mention of the 

name of their god.s. Or, Heb. I'l'^lDTn 
tazkiru^ cause to be remembered. In- 
stead of showing the least respect to 
their idols, they were to endeavor, on 
the contrary, to bury the remem- 
brance of them in perpetual oblivion ; 
let their very names be forgotten. So 
David says of false gods, Ps. 16. 4, 



is written in the book of the law 
of Moses, ' that ye turn not aside 
therefrom to the right hand or 
to the left ; 

7 That ve ^ come not amona: 
these nations, these that remain 
among you ; neither ^ make 
mention of the name of their 
gods, nor cause to swear by them, 
neither serve them, nor bow 
yourselves unto them : 

i Deut. 5. 32. and 28. 14. k Exod. 23. 33. 
Deut. 7. 2, 3. ' Prov. 4. 14. Ephes. 5. 11. 
1 Exod. 23. 13. Ps. 16. 4. Jer. 5. 7. Zeph. 
1 . 5. Num. 32. 38. 

^ Their names will I not take up into 
my lips.' On the same principle, 
God says^ Hos. 2. 16, 17, ' At that 
day thou shall call me Ishi ; and shall 
call me no more Baali. For I will 
take away the names of Baalim 
out of her mouth, and they shall no 
more be remembered by their name. 
Though Baali and Ishi signify the 
same thing, yet as the former was 
the appropriated name of idols, he 
would have it no longer employed, 
even in reference to himself. The 
habitual mention of the names of 
idols would go gradually to diminish 
the abhorrence in which they were 
bound to hold them, and eventually 
to introduce the custom of swearing 
by them in common discourse. This 
would infallibly tend to the general 
prevalence, if not to the formal es- 
tablishment of idolatrous practices 
among them. In like manner it may 
be seriously questioned, whether the 
paintings, statues, and poems, which 
abound in Christian countries, re- 
plete with allusions to the detestable 
heathen mythology, have not a most 
pernicious effect in lessening a just 
abhorrence of the Greek and Roman 
idolatry, and thus subserving the 



204 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



8 But "" cleave unto the Lord 
your God, as ye have done unto 
this day. 

9 " For the Lord hath driven 
out from before you great na- 
tions and strong : but as for you, 
•no man hath been able to stand 
before you unto this day. 

m Deut. 10. 20, and 11. 22, and 13. 4. ch. 
22. 5. n Deut. 11. 23. o ch. 1. 5. 

cause of scepticism, infidelity, and 

vice. If Nor cause to siuear by 

them. To swear by any god was 
virtually to acknowledge him as a 
witness and avenger in the case of 
the violation of contracts, and so in 
eiFect a suitable object of religious 
worship. It is implied that they 
were not to make any covenants 
with idolaters, because in confirming 
their covenants they would sw^ear by 
their idols. * Let no Israelite be a 
party to any transaction w^hich should 
involve such a consequence. Nei- 
ther swear by them yourselves, nor 
cause others by your procurement to 
do it.' By neglecting these slighter 
occasions of idolatry they might be 
imperceptibly betrayed into it, and 
led along by degrees, till they had 
finally reached its highest step, w^hich 
was serving false gods, and bowing 
down to them, in direct transgression 
of the letter of the second command- 
ment, 

8. Cleave unto the JUord your God^ 
Ac. Delight in him, depend upon 
him, devote yourselves to his glory, 
and continue to do so unto the end, 
as you have done unto this day ; 
ever since arriving in Canaan. For 
since that time, though there might 
have been many things more or less 
amiss among them, yet the nation at 
large had behaved much better than 



10 P One man of you shall 
chase a thousand : for the Lord 
your God, he it is that fighteth 
for you, "^ as he hath promised 
you. 

1 1 "" Take good heed therefore 
unto yourselves, that ye love 
the Lord your God. 

P Lev. 26. 8. Deut. 32. 30. Judg. 3. 31, 
and 15. 15. 2 Sam. 23. 8. q Exod. 14. 14, 
and 23. 27. Deut. 3. 22. r ch. 22. 5. 

they did in the wilderness, and had 
not been guilty of any open or gross 
apostasy from God, but had followed 
him with exemplary fidelity. 

9. For the Lord hath driven out. 
Or, as the original will admit of be- 
ing rendered, 'and the Lord will 
drive out,' &c., and so the whole 
verse may be rendered in the future 
instead of the past, in which case it 
will connect more easily and natu- 
rally with the verse ensuing. *\{No 

mail hath been able to stand before you. 
That is, when it actually came to an 
issue. Some of the ancient inhabit- 
ants did indeed yet remain uncon- 
quered, but in every engagement the 
Israelites came off' victorious. In this 
sense no man had been able to stand 
before them. Wherever an enemy 
had been encountered he had been 
overcome. 

11. Take good heed therefore unto 
yourselves. Intimating the condition 
on which the foregoing promise 
should be made good to them. Let 
not the assurance of the divine fa- 
vor, presence, and protection, tend to 
relax your diligence, or weaken the 
sense of obligation to love and serve 
him ; on the contrary, let it operate 
as an additional m.otive to the most 
intense alTeciion and devotedness 
towards your heavenly benefactor. 
As the temptations arising from thft 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



205 



12 Else if ye do in any M'ise 
•go backj and cleave unto the 
remnant of these nations, even 
these that remain among you, 
and shall 4iiake marriages with 
them, and go in unto them, and 
they to you : 

13 Know for a certainty that 
"the Lord your God will no 
more drive out any of these na- 

s Heb. 10. 3S, 39. 2 Pet. 2. 20, 21. t Deut. 
7. 3. u Jud'r. 2. 3. 



presence of yoar corrupt neighbors, 
and your own peace and prosperity, 
are greater than they were in the 
wilderness, it will require greater 
watchfulness and diligence to keep 
yourselves continually approved in 
the sight of heaven, 

13. Knovj for Oy certainty. ' Heb. 
15>in 5>1"7^ yadoa tidu, knoioing 

thou shalt ktioio. IT They shall be 

snares and traps unto you. You will 
be caught by their wiles ; their baits 
and allurements will seduce you into 
crime, into a participation of their 
vile impieties ; and as a consequence 
of this, taking advantage of your 
weakness, they will vex and harass, 
torment and oppress you, and as wil- 
ling though unconscious instruments 
in the hand of a chastising provi- 
dence, will be as continual goads, 
spurs, or scourges in your sides, or 
as annoying thorns in your eyes. 
They will kill or drive away your 
cattle, barn or steal your harvests, lay 
waste your vineyards, alarm or plun- 
der your houses, and in a thousand 
ways be a perpetual source of trou- 
ble. Nay, so completely shall they at 
length obtain the ascendency, that 
your respective conditions shall be 
reversed ; instead of exterminating 
them from the bounds of Canaan, 
18 



tions from before you : "" but 
they shall be snares and traps 
unto you, and scourges in your 
sides, and thorns in your eyes, 
until ye perish from off this 
good land which the Lord your 
God hath given you. 

14 And behold, this day ^I 
am going the way of all the 

X Exod. 23. 33. Num. 33. 55. Deut. 7. 
16. 1 Kings 11. 4. y 1 Kings 2. 2. Heb. 
9.27. 



you shall yourselves fall before them, 
or be utterly driven from your inher- 
itance, from the ' good land' which 
the Lord himself hath given. What 
could tend more powerfully to arm 
their spirits against the forbidden al- 
liances than the prospect of such ca- 
lamities as these 7 ?[ Scourges m 

your sides^ o.ud thorns in your eyes. 
'What!' says a wife to her angry 
husband, ' am I a thorn in your eyes V 
' Alas ! alas ! he has seen another ; I 
am now a thorn in his eyes.' ' Were 
I not a thorn in his eyes, his anger 
would not barn so long.' ' My old 
friend Tamban never looks at my 
house now, because it gives him 
thorns to his eyes.' Roberts. 

14. Going the loay of all the earth. 
About to die, to go into the grave. 
To die is in a sense to go a journey, 
a journey to our long home \ it is the 
way of all the earth, the way that 
all mankind must go sooner or later. 
Joshua felt himself near his end, and 
he would have his people look upon 
him and listen to him as a dying man, 
that so his words might sink the 
deeper into their hearts. He would 
spend his last breath in taking them 
to witness that God had been punc- 
tiliously faithful to every promise, 
and in solemnly assuring them that 



206 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



earth ; and ye know in all your 
hearts and in all your souls, that 
* not pne thing hath failed of all 
the good things which the Lord 
your God spake concerning you ; 
all are come to pass unto you, 
and not one thing hath failed 
thereof. 

15 * Therefore it shall come to 
pass, that as all good things are 
come upon you, which the Lord 
your God promised you ; so 
shall the Lord bring upon you 
^all evil things, until he have 
destroyed you from off this good 

zch.21.45. Luke 21. 33. a Deut. 28. 63. 
b Lev. 26. 16. Deut. 28. 15, 16, &g. 

every threatening, however fearful, 
would receive an equally certain 

and exact accomplishment. IT Ye 

know — that not one thing hath failed^ 
&c. The same appeal which is 
here made by Joshua to Israel after 
sixty years' experience, may be made 
to every believer that ever lived. 
We may bring forth every promise 
from the Bible, and then search the 
annals of the world, and inquire of 
every creature in it, and one single 
instance will be sought in vain of 
God's violating or forgetting a prom- 
ise. The accomplishment may have 
been delayed or brought to pass in a 
way that was not expected, but the 
whole world may be challenged to 
impeach his veracity, or contradict 
the assertion that ' all which he hath 
promised is come to pass : not one 
thing hath failed thereof But let it 
not be forgotten that the veracity of 
God is as much pledged for the ex- 
ecution of his threaienings, as for the 
perlbrmance of his promises. The 
one is a proof of the other. Yet 
among the world of the impenitent 



j land v/hich the Lord your God 
hath given you. 

16 When ye have transgressed 
the covenant of the Lord your 
God, which he commanded you, 
and have gone and served other 
gods, and bowed yourselves to 
them ; then shall the anger of 
the Lord be kindled against 
you, and ye shall perish quickly 
from off the good land which he 
hath given unto you. 



A 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
ND Joshua gathered all the 
tribes of Israel to ^ She- 

a Gen. 35. 4. 



where is there a mind divested of the 
floating impression, that mercy will 
in some way interpose to stay the 
outgoings of wrath 7 How many, 
alas ! are now experiencing in hell 
what they would not believe on 
earth ! The subsequent history of 
the chosen people abundantly shows 
that both the apostasy here deprecat- 
ed and the threatenings here denoun- 
ced did actually take place. Let then 
every Christian fear as he reads, ' If 
God spared not the natural branches, 
take heed lest he spare not thee.' 
The worldly, carnal, sensual Chris- 
tian has no more right to expect in- 
dulgence from the justice of God than 
the disobedient Jew. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

1. Gathered all the tribes. That is^ 
the heads, elders, and chief men of 
the tribes, though not them exclu- 
sively. See on ch. 23. 2. Joshua 
probably found his life prolonged be- 
yond his expectation, and, like Pe- 
ter in his old age, thinking it meet 
' as Ions: as he was in this tabernacle' 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



207 



chem, and ^ called for the elders 

b ch. 23. 2. 

to do his Utmost towards 'putting' 
and keeping his people ' in remem- 
brance ' of the great things of their 
duty, embraces one more opportu- 
nity of convening the tribes by their 
representatives, and giving them a 
solemn parting charge. The pious 
servants of God may be disabled 
through age and infirmities from 
continuing their personal exertions, 
bat they will never relax their zeal 
in the service of their divine Master ; 
and what they want in effective la- 
bors, they w^ill endeavor to supply by 
stimulating and confirming the zeal 
of others. As Moses, at an advanc- 
ed age, renewed the covenant in 
the plains of Moab which had been 
first entered into at Horeb forty years 
before, so Joshua on this occasion 
imitates his example, and makes it 
his last labor to engage the tribes of 
Israel once more to give themselves 
up to God, in a perpetual covenant. 
Thus the good effects of his influ- 
ence w^ould remain when he him- 
self was taken from them. ' We 
must never think our work for God 
done till our life is done ; and if he 
lengthen out our days beyond what 
we thought, we must conclude it is 
because he has some further service 

for us to do.' Henrij. IT To She- 

chem. As it is immediately added 
that ' they presented themselves be- 
fore God,' the natural inference 
would be that this transaction took 
place in the presence of the ark and 
the tabernacle, the usual meeting- 
place of God and his people, which 
were now, as far as w^e know, at 
Shiloh instead of Shechem. This 
has occasioned some difficulty to 



of Israel, and for their heads and 
for their judges, and for their 



commentators, especially as the 
Greek of the Sept. has HrjXw, Shilo^ 
both here and v. 25, though the Al- 
dine and Complutensian editions 
have Sux^ff, Sychem^ in both places, 
which leads us to suppose that the 
former reading is a designed alter- 
ation, made with a view to obviate 
an apprehended discrepancy in the 
original. At any rate, there is no 
sufficient ground for questioning the 
genuineness of the present Hebrew 
text. The two following solutions, 
therefore, may be proposed 5 either, 
(1) By Shechem here is meant not 
the city so called, but the territory 
adjacent, extending to the distance 
of several miles, within the limits 
of which it is conjectured that Shiloh 
stood. But this is less likely, as 
Shiloh was at least ten miles distant 
from Shechem, and- if the meeting 
had been at Shiloh we can see no 
reason why it should not have been 
expressly so stated. Or, (2) that 
Shechem was really the place of the 
convocation, but that the tabernacle 
was for the present occasion trans- 
ferred thither, as we learn Judg. 20. 
1, 18 ; 1 Sam. 4. 3 ; 2 Sam. 15. 24, 
that it was sometimes on extraordi- 
nary emergencies temporarily re- 
moved. There were several reasons 
why Shechem should be considered 
the most suitable place for the a.ssem- 
bling of the tribes on this occasion. 
It was a Levitical city, and nearer 
than Shiloh to Timnath-serah, Josh- 
ua's residence, whose age and in- 
firmities might at this time have in- 
capacitated him from travelling even 
a short distance from home. It was 
the place where the covenant was 



^08 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



officers; and they '^presented 
themselves before €lo(l. 

2 And Joshua said unto all 
the people. Thus saith the Lord 



c 1 San:. 10. 19. 



first made with Abraham ages be- 
fore, Gen. 12. 6, 7, and so would be 
a peculiarly appropriate place for 
renewing that covenant, which was 
one end to be answered by iheir now 
coming together. It adds to the 
force of this reason, that it was in 
this immediate vicinity, between the 
two mounts Gerizim and Ebal, that 
Joshua had before, on their first en- 
trance into Canaan, convened the 
nation for a similar object, ch. 8. 30- 
35. So that all the associations con- 
nected with the place v/ould tend 
eminently to heighten the solemnity 
and impressiveness of the transac- 
tion in which they w^ere about to 
engage. If, moreover, as from v. 32, 
many suppose ij; was on this occasion 
that the bones of Joseph, and per- 
haps of the other patriarchs, Acts 7. 
15, 16; were deposited in the piece 
of ground which his father gave him 
near Shechem, it would constitute 
another strong reason for selecting 
this, in preference to Shilo, as the 
place of the present meeting. That 
such was the fact, however, what- 
ever might have been the reasons, 
and whatever the imagined difficul- 
ties involved in the supposition, there 
can be no doubt as long as we ad- 
here to the letter of the sacred record. 

'{I Presented themselves before God. 

As intimated above, the presumption 
is that this presentation of themselves 
was before the ark of the covenant 
and the tabernacle, the visible resi- 
dence of God among his people, and 
row removed to Shechem to give 



God of Israel, ^Your fathers 
dw^elt on the other side of the 
flood in old time, even Terah, 
the father of Abraham, and the 

d Gen. 11. 26, .31. 



additional solemnity to the proceed- 
ings of the assembly. This impres- 
sion is confirmed by v. 26, where it 
is said that ' a great stone was set up 
there under an oak that was by the 
sa7ictuary of the Lord ;^ i. e. by the 
place where the sanctuary tempora- 
rily stood during the lime of that 
convention. Yet the words do not 
necessarily demand this construction. 
The phrase ' before God.' or ' before 
the Lord,' is sometimes equivalent to 
religiously, devoutly, as if urider the 
inspection of the divine eye. Thus 
Isaac, Gen. 27. 7, is said to have 
blessed Jacob, ' before the Lord,' i. e. 
as in his presence, in his name, in a 
very solemn and devout manner. 
So Jephthah is said, Judg. 11. 11, to 
have uttered all his words ' before the 
Lord j' in the same sense. See on ch. 
4. 13. 

2. Joshua said unto all the people. 
All the people now assembled, con- 
sisting mainly of the elders, chiefs, 
&c., V. 1, but in addition to them of 
such portions of the body of the peo- 
ple as found it convenient to attend. 
■IF On the other side "of the flood. 



That is, on the other side of the river, 
the river Euphrates ; so called by 
way of eminence. ' Flood ' is an 
unfortunate rendering, as the original 
word is the common word for ' river,' 
and repeatedly and for the most part 
so translated in our established ver- 
sion. IF In old time. Heb. &ii15^^ 

m'eolam, from everlastiyig ; i. e. from 
an indefinite period of remote an- 
tiquity ; as the same term often sig- 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



209 



father of Nachor : and ^ they 
served other gods. 

3 And 'I took your father 
Ahraham from the other side of 
the flood, and led hhn through- 
out all the land of Canaan, and 

e Gen. 31. 53. f Gen, 12. 1. Acts 7. 2, 3. 

nifies an indefinite period of time fu- 
ture. IT Served other gods. From 

this it seems clear that Abraham's 
grandfather and father, and perhaps 
himself in the first instance, wor- 
shipped the idols of the country in 
which they lived. By this, however, 
we are probably not to understand 
that they had no knowledge of, or 
reverence for, the true God, but that 
they did not render to him that ex- 
clusive worship which was his due. 
In fact, we may conclude them to 
have been in much the same condi- 
tion as Laban, who at a subsequent 
period represented that part of the 
family which remained beyond the 
Euphrates, and who certainly rever- 
enced Jehovah, but who also had 
idols which he called his gods, and 
the loss of which filled him with vex- 
ation and anger. The partial idola- 
try of their ancestors, however, was 
humiliating to Israel. Even Abra- 
ham, the father of their nation, in 
whom they gloried, and who was 
subsequently so highly honored of 
God, was born and bred up in the 
worship of false gods. This fact 
would cut off all vain-boasting in the 
worthiest of their ancestors, as far as 
native character or early conduct 
was concerned. The father of the 
faithful himself became what he was 
purely by the grace of God, and not 
in virtue of his own innate tenden- 
cies to good. Indeed his justification 
is express^xy set forth bv the apostle, 



multiplied his seed, and ^gave 
him Isaac. 

4 And I gave unto Isaac ^ Ja- 
cob and Esau : and I gave unto 
' Esau mount Seir, to possess it ; 

g Gen. 21. 2, 3. Ps. 127. 3. h Gen. 25. 
24, 25, 26. i Gen. 36. 8. Dent. 2. 5. 

Rom. 4. 5, as an instance of God's 
'justifying the ungodly.' 

3. Aiid I took your father Abraham^ 
&c. I exercised such an influence 
upon him as induced him to leave 
that land of idolators ; I prompted 
him to go. Though no violence 
was employed, it implies ihat he 
would never have gone thence un- 
less God had ' taken ' him, unless by 
a divine impulse he had moved him 
to go. See on Gen. 2. 15, relative to 
God's ' taking ' Adam and putting 
him into the garden of Eden. So 
it is the special grace of God that 
' takes ' a sinner out of a state of im- 
penitence and unbelief, and puts him 
in the way to eternal life, the road 
to the heavenly Canaan, that better 
country where lies the inheritance 
of the saints. TI Led him through- 
out all the land of Canaan. Gave 
him my gracious guidance and pro- 
tection during all his wanderings 
to and fro in that land of promise. 

% Multiplied his seed, and gave 

him Isaac. That is, multiplied his 
seed by giving him Isaac. As this 
' multiplication,' however, could not 
be said to be accomplished merely 
by the birth of a single son, it is to be 
understood, not of Isaac alone, but 
of the long and spreading line of his 
posterity, among whom he enume- 
rates Jacob and Esau, including 
their issue, in the next verse. 

4. I gave unto Esau mount Seir. 
See on Gen. 36. 7. 8. In order that 



210 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



** but Jacob and his children went 
down into Egypt. 

5 ^ I sent Moses also and Aa- 
ron, and "^ I plagued Egypt, ac- 
cording to that which I did 
among them : and afterward I 
brought you out. 

6 And I " brought your fathers 
out of Egypt : and "" ye came 
unto the sea ; ^ and the Egyp- 
tians pursued after your fathers 
with chariots and horsemen un- 
to the Red sea. 

7 And when they "^ cried unto 
the Lord, ""he put darkness be- 

k Gen. 46. 1, 6. Acts 7. 15. 1 Exod. 3. 10. 
m Exod. 7. and 8. and 9. and 10. and 12. 
'^ Exod. 12. 37, 51. o Exod. 14.2. p Exod. 
14. 9. q Exod. 14. 10. r Exod. 14. 20. 

the land of Canaan, by the removal 
of Esau, might be reserved entire to 

Jacob and his posterity. U But 

Jacob and his children went do2cn 
into Egypt. Where they suffered 
a long and grievous bondage, the 
particulars of which the speaker does 
not deem it necessary to recite. 

5. According to that which I did 
among them. Heb. in^pn ^rT^UJS^ 
asithi bekirbo, which I did in the 
midst of him. A peculiar phraseol- 
ogy, and not capable perhaps of being 
fully reached in any other language. 
It irnples the essential reality of any 
thing compared with the outward 
manifestation^ sign, or expression of 
it. Thus it is said of the butler and 
baker in prison, Gen. 40. 5, that they 
each dreamed a dream, ' according 
to the interpretation of his dream,' 
i. e. one of which the eveiit B.nsvjered 
to the dream itself; a dream capable 
of a sound interpretation, which Jo- 
seph gave, and which the actual ful- 
filment confirmed. So here the 
plagues of Egypt corresponded in 



tween you and the Egyptians, 
' and brought the sea upon them, 
and covered them ; and ^ your 
eyes have seen what I have 
done in Egypt : and ye dwelt 
in the wilderness " a long season. 

8 And I brought you into the 
land of the Amorites, which 
dwelt on the other side Jordan ; 
"" and they fought with you : and 

1 gave them into your hand, 
that ye might possess their 
land ; and I destroved them from 
before you. 

9 Then ^ Balak the son of Zip- 

s Exod. 14. 27, 28. t Deut. 4. 34, and 29. 

2 u ch. 5. 6. X Num. 21. 21, 3-3. Deut. 2. 
32, and 3. 1. y Judg. 11. 25. 

fact, in reality, with all that had 
been predicted of them beforehand, 
with all that was recorded of them 
afterwards, and with all that struck 
the senses at the time of their actual 
occurrence. There was no illusion 
about them in any manner or degree. 

It was all reality. IT Aftericard 1 

brought you out. Spoken of tlie pre- 
sent generation, though strictly true 
only of their fathers. Of the usus lo- 
quendi here involved, see note on ch. 
4. 23. So also in the ensuing verses, 
where the reader will notice that the 
words you?' fathers and ye, them and 
you, are remarkably interchanged. 

6. Came unto the sea. The Red Sea, 
as is afterwards expressed. 

7. Brought the sea upon them — cov- 
ered them. Heb. ' brought *.he sea 
upon him— covered him.' Spoken 
of, according to usual analogy, as 
one man. IT Dwelt in the wilder- 
ness a long season. A mild term for 
their being condemned to wander for 
forty years in the wilderness as a 
punishment for their sins. 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



211 



por, king of Moab, arose and 
warred against Israel, and "- sent 
and called Balaam the son of 
Beor to curse you : 

10 ''But I would not hearken 
unto Balaam ; ^ therefore he 
blessed you still : so I delivered 
you out of his hand. 

11 And " ye went over Jordan, 
and came unto Jericho : and 

zN urn. 22.5. Deut. 23. 4. a Deut. 23. 5. 
b Num. 23. 11, 20, and 24. 10. c ch. 3. 14, 
17, and 4. 10, 11, 12. 

9. TJien Balak — o.rose and warred 
against Israel. From the previous 
history, INum. 23. and 24. and also 
from Judg. 11. 25, it would appear 
that Balak did not at any time acht- 
ally engage in conflict with Israel. 
He is said, therefore, in this place to 
have 'w^arred' against them because 
he intended it, because he cherished 
a hostile purpose, and concerted his 
schemes and made his preparations 
accordingly. The Scripture idiom 
often speaks of men as doing what 
they fully design and endeavor to 
do, and it is a very slight stretch of 
language to denominate him a war- 
ring enemy who has all the will and 
lacks only the opportunity to become 
so. See Gen. 37. 21 ; Ezek. 24. 13; 
Mat. 5. 28 ; John 10. 32, 33. A sim- 
ilar phraseology occurs in v. 11, in 
reference to the men of Jericho, 
which is perhaps to be explained on 
the same principle. 

10. Iv'ould not hearlcen unto Ba- 
laam. Would not comply with his 
secret wish and purpose, nor allow 
him to curse to you ; would not fall 
in with or favor the ruling desire of 

his heart. IF Delivered you out of 

his hand. Out of the hand of Balak, 
and all the wicked machinations 
which he had set on foot against you. 



"^the men of Jericho fought 
against you, the Amorites, and 
the Perizzites, and the Canaan- 
ites, and the Hittites, and the 
Girgashites, the Hivites, and the 
Jebusites, and I delivered them 
into vour hand. 

12 And ^ I sent the hornet be- 
fore you, which drave them out 
from before you, even the two 

d ch. 6. 1, and 10. 1, and 11. 1. e Exod. 
23. 2S. Deut. 7. 20. 

11. The men of Jericho fought 
against you. Heb. ' the masters or 
lords of Jericho.' This is under- 
stood by many expositors of the ru- 
lers or magistrates of Jericho, but as 
the ensuing w^ords, ' the Amorites, 
the Perizzites,' Sic, seem to stand in 
immediate apposition wdth ' men,' 
or masters, we take it that they are 
meant by the term, and are called 
' masters ' of Jericho from the fact 
that that city belonged to an exten- 
sive confederacy composed of the 
various neighboring nations here 
specified, of whom it is obviously 
true that they ' fought ' against Israel, 
and were signally delivered into 
their hand. If, however, the phrase 
be understood of the citizens, or chitf 
men of the city of Jericho, though 
they did not actually meet Israel in 
the field, yet they may be said to have 
fought against them, inasmuch as 
they stood upon the defensive^ and op- 
posed them by shutting their gates, 
and probably in making what re- 
sistance they could after an entrance 
had been gained into the city. See 
on V. 9. 

12. / serit the hornet before you. 
Understood by some literally of the 
insect so called, by others figurative- 
ly of the anxieties, perplexities, and 



212 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



kings of the Amorites ; hut ^ not 
with thy sword J nor with thy 
bow. 

13 And I have given you a 
land for which ye did not la- 
bor, and ° cities which ye built 
not, and ye dwell in them ; of 

f Ps. 44. 3, 6. g Deut. 6. 10, 11. ch. 11. 
13. 

pungent terrors which invaded the 
minds of the Canaanites on the re- 
ported approach of the hosts of Is- 
rael. For further remarks on the 
subject, see on Ex, 23. 28, and ' Illus- 
trations of the Scriptures,' p. QQ>. 
The writer of the apocryphal book 
entitled ' The Wisdom of Solomon,' 
seems to have taken the words as lit- 
erally true. ch. 12. 8-10, ' Nev^er- 
theless, thou didst send wasps, fore- 
runners of thine host, to destroy them 
by little and little. Not that thou 
wast unable to bring the ungodly 
under the hand of the righteous in 
battle, or to destroy them at once 
with cruel beasts, or with one rough 
word : But executing thy judgments 
by little and little thou gavest them 
place of repentance, not being igno- 
rant that they were a naughty gene- 
ration, and that their malice was 
bred in them, and that their cogita- 



tion would never be changed.' 

^ Not with thy sword, nor with thy 
how. Not that these implements were 
not made use of in their wars, but 
that they would have used them in 
vain unless God, by his secret or 
open judgments, had previously smit- 
ten and paralysed the power of the 
enemy. See the passage before quot- 
ed from Ps. 44. 3. 

13. For whijch ye did not labor. 
Heb. t\'$y^ &<i lo yagata^ thou didst 
not labor. The whole body of the 



the vineyards and olive-yards 
which ye planted not do ye eat. 
14 IT *'iNow therefore fear the 
Lord, and serve him in ' sincer- 
ity and in truth ; and put away 
the gods which your fathers 

h Deut. 10. 12. 1 Sam. 12. 24. i Gen. 17. 
1, and 20. 5. Deut. 18. 13. Ps. 119. 1. 2 
Cor. 1. 12. Eph. 6. 24. k ver. 2, 23. Lev. 
17.7. Ezek.20 18. 



nation addressed collectively as one 

person. ^ Of the vineyards and 

olive-yards — do you eat. That is, of 
their fruits ; a usage of speech of not 
uncommon occurrence. Thus Gen. 
3. 11, ' Hast thou eaten of the tree, 
whereof,' &c., i. e. of the fruit of the 
tree. So also Rev. 2. 7, ' I will give 
to him to eat of the tree of life.' 

14. Noio therefore fear the Lord, 
&c. The address of Joshua to Israel 
has thus far been occupied with a 
recital of the leading events of their 
national history, events going to 
show, in the most striking manner, 
the interposition of the divine hand 
in their behalf He would thus lay 
a foundation for that deep sense of 
obligation and obedience, which he 
aims in the remainder of his dis-. 
course to impress upon their minds. 
From this point, therefore, he be- 
gins a practical application of the 
various facts he had before enume- 
rated, turning the whole into a pow- 
erful appeal to the consciences and 

the hearts of his hearers. IT Serve 

him in sincerity and in truth. In up- 
rightness, in integrity ; not in pre- 
tence and outward semblance only, 
but in reality and in truth. Do not 
serve or worship other gods in pri- 
vate, while in public, in the eyes of 
men, you maintain the form of the 

worship of the true God. IF Put 

away the gods which your fathers 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



213 



served on the other side of the i you this day whom ye will 
flood, and ' in Egypt ; and serve I serve, whether " the gods which 



ye the Lord. 

15 And if it seem evil unto 
you to serve the Lord, "' choose 

1 Ezek. 20. 7, 8, and 23. 3. m Ruth 1. 15. 
1 Kings 18. 21. Ezek. 20. 39. John 6. 67. 



served^ &c. From the general cha- 
racter of this generation, as evinced 
by their conduct, and from the com- 
mendation bestowed upon them by 
Joshua, ch. 23. 8, it is difficult to con- 
ceiv^e that the positive practice of 
idolatry was now fairly chargeable 
upon them. If the secret sin of 
Achan, in stealing certain forbidden 
articl es at the siege of Jericho, brought 
luch fearful tokens of wrath upon 
the congregation, have we not rea- 
son to suppose that the act of paying 
divine honors to idols, how^ever hid- 
den from human observation, would 
have incurred, at least, an equal 
measure of divine indignation. And 
if such a sin were actually prevalent 
among them, how is it to be account- 
ed for that Joshua had not warned 
them against it before 1 But perhaps 
the words of Joshua, in just construc- 
tion, do not necessaril)^ force upon 
us such a sense. The phrase, ' Put 
away the gods,' &c., may mean sim- 
ply, keep avjay^ renounce, repudiate^ 
have nothing to do i/jith, being equi- 
valent to a charge to preserve them- 
selves pure from a contagion to which 
they were peculiarly liable. We 
prefer, therefore, to understand the 
expression of a vigorous and deter- 
rnined picrpose of mind to which the 
speaker exhorts the chosen people, 
while at the same time we cannot 
deny that there may have been in 
solitary instances some lingering re- 
lics of actual idolatry which Joshua 



your fathers served that were 
on the other side of the flood, 
or ° the gods of the Amorites in 

n ver. 14. « Exod. 23. 24, 32. 33, and 34 
15. Deut. 13. 7, and 29. 18. Judges 6. 10. 

would eifectually extinguish by this 
solemn mandate. But that the of- 
fence was now prevalent to any con- 
siderable extent among the people, 
we have no idea. Not but that there 
was sufficient corruption in their 
natures for such a propensity to 
live and act upon, but the tenor of 
the narrative does not, we conceive, 
justify the supposition in respect to 
the in at this time. We are warrant- 
ed, however, in drawing from Josh- 
ua's words the practical inference^ 
that God requires the heart in his 
worship, without which there is no 
acceptable service ; and that that is 
still an idol, to which our affections 
cleave more than they do to God 

himself. ^ In Egypt. This fact 

is nowhere else expressly asserted 
respecting the Israelites in Egypt, 
although Ezek. 23. 3, 8, and Acts, 7. 
42, 43, go strongly in confirmation 
of Joshua's words. Considering the 
idolatrous tendencies of human na- 
ture, it is not surprising that they 
should have suffered themselves to 
become infected with an evil so 
eveiT where rife around them, and 
it was, perhaps, in part owing to this 
that their sufferings were so aggra- 
vated and embittered in that ' house 
of bondage.' 

15. If it seem evil in your eyes. 
Unjust, unreasonable, or attended 

with too many inconveniences. 

^ Choose ye this do.y whom ye will 
serve. Not implying that it was pre- 



214 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



whose land ye dwell : ^but as for me and my house, we will 

serve the Lord. 

P Gen. 1?. 10. 



viously a matter of indifference, whe- 
ther they served God or no, or that 
they were really at liberty to refuse 
his service if they saw fit. He 
adopts this rhetorical mode of speech, 
in order to impress upon them more 
forcibly a sense of their duty, and 
the utter absurdity, as well as im- 
piety, of devoting themselves to any 
other than the true God. It is a 
striking way of bringing the matter 
to an issue. His aim is to bring 
them to a decided stand ; to a free, 
intelligent, firm, and lasting choice 
of God as their portion. In effectmg 
this he makes use of a style of ad- 
dress which evidently implies that 
the service of idols compared with 
the service of God is so irrational, 
absurd, and brutish, that no man in 
the calm exercise of his understand- 
ing could hesitate which to choose. 
If reason and conscience could but 
be allowed to speak, they would not 
fail to speak on the side of God. A 
similar course, having the same ob- 
ject in view, was pursued by Elijah, 
1 Kings 18. 21, w^ho ' came unto all 
the people, and said, How long halt 
ye between two opinions 1 If the 
Lord be God, follow him ; but if 
Baal, then follow him.' The grand 
inference to be drawn from this mode 
of address is, — that the service of 
God is matter of voluntary choice, 
and that it is his will that we should 
all seriously and solemnly make this 
choice. He would have us weigh 
the matter well, compare the respect- 
ive claims of his service and the 
service of sin and the world, and if 
our candid judgment, as it surely 
will, pronounces on the side of that 



which is good, and true, and right, 
and saving, to resolve at once to em- 
brace it, and adhere to it with a con- 
stancy stronger than death. As the 
evidences in favor of religion are so 
clear and indisputable, and its in- 
finite advantages so obvious, the man 
who declines making the choice here 
enjoined must be considered as de- 
liberately preferring Satan to Christ, 
death to life, hell to heaven. He 
who acknowUfl ges the paramount 
claims of God and his Gospel, and 
yet does not act accordingly, does 
not sincerely and solemnly choose his 
service, as that better part which 
cannot be taken from him, must 
stand self-condemned both here and 

hereafter. ^ As for me and my 

house ^ we will serve the Lord, Ye 
may act your pleasure in this matter, 
but whatever may be your election, 1 
am decided as to my own course. 
As far as myself and my household 
are concerned, the question whom 
we shall serve is settled. Whatever 
halting or wavering there may be 
in other cases, there is none in mine. 
This declaration of their venerated 
leader, while devoid of the least air 
of dictation, and apparently leaving 
them the most unrestrained liberty 
of choice, was in fact the most pow- 
erful argument he could have used 
to influence their minds in the di- 
rection he wished. For the force of 
example is in proportion to the depth 
of respect and estimation in which 
an individual is held, and he could 
not fail to perceive that the rever- 
ence with which he was regarded 
would give to his example a w^eight 
and authority almost amounting to 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



215 



16 And the people answered, 
and said, God forbid that we 
should forsake the Lord, to 
serve other gods ; 



absolute law. Gratitude for his 
services, confidence in his wisdom, 
and love for his person would all 
combine to make his conduct a pat- 
tern for theirs ; and how blessed is 
it when those who possess these im- 
mense advantages for exerting a salu- 
tary influence on oihers, are dispos- 
ed, like Joshua, to make it available 
to the salvation of their fellow-men ! 
This noble resolutio nof the captain 
of Israel obviously suggests the fol- 
lowing reflections ; (1; The service 
of God is nothing below the most 
distinguished of men. It is no di- 
minution of their greatness, no dis- 
paragement of their rank, reputation, 
or honor, to be decidedly pious, and 
to be openly and avowedly so. On 
the contrary, it heightens every other 
distinction, and makes all honor still 
more honorable. (2) In regard to the 
great interests of religion and the 
soul, we are to be concerned for oth- 
ers, particularly our households, as 
well as for ourselves. It should be 
our earnest aim to unite our families, 
our wives, children, and servants, 
those that come under our special 
care and influence, with us in every 
pious resolution and labor. Heads 
of households should feel not only 
anxietij, but deep responsibility, in re- 
spect to those thus entrusted to their 
charge. (3) Those that lead and 
rule in other things should be first in 
the service of God, and go before in 
every good work. (4) We should 
resolve to do right and to do good, 
whatever others may do. Though 
others may desert the cause of God; 



17 For the Lord our God, he 
it IS that brought us up, and our 
fathers, out of the land of Egypt, 
from the house of bondage, and 

we should stand by it at all hazards, 
whatever charge of singularity or 
expression of popular odium it may 
bring upon us. ' Those that are 
bound for heaven must be willing to 
swim against the stream, and must 
not do as the most do, but as the best 
do.' Henry. 

16. T'he people ansicered and said, 
God forbid, &c. Joshua has the 
pleasure of finding the people ready 
from their hearts to concur with him 
in his pious resolution. By an em- 
phatic expression, denoting the great- 
est dread and detestation imaginable, 
they show that they startle at the 
thought of apostatizing from God, as 
if it would imply their being utterly 
lost to justice, gratitude, honor, and 
every generous feeling. At the same 
time, they give such substantial rea- 
sons for their choice, as to show that 
it was not purely out of compliment 
to Joshua, highly as they esteemed 
him, that they made it, but from a 
full conviction of its intrinsic rea- 
sonableness and equity. . They pro- 
fessedly and justly found their obli- 
gations, first on the consideration of 
the great and merciful things which 
God had done for them, in bringing 
them out of Egypt through the wil- 
derness into Canaan, where they were 
now planted in peace ; and, secondly, 
of the relation in which they stood 
to God as a covenant people. ' He is 
our God ;' he has graciously engaged 
himself by promise to us, and we 
have bound ourselves by solemn vow 
to him. Woebe to us if we prove false 
and treacherous to our plighted faith. 



216 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



which did those great signs in 
our sight, and preserv^ed us in 
all the way wherein we went, 
and among all the people through 
whom we passed : 

18 And the Lord drave out 
from before us all the people, 
even the Amorites which dwelt 
in the land : therefore will we 

q Matt. 6. 24. r Lev. 19. 2. 1 Sam. 6. 20 

19. Ye cannot serve the Lord, &c. 
It cannot be supposed for a moment 
that Joshua intended to deter the 
people from the service of God by 
representing it as impracticable or 
dangerous. On the contrary, his de- 
sign is to enlist them more sincerely 
and steadfastly in it, but his know- 
ledge of the weakness and corruption 
of our fallen nature, prompted him' 
to do this in a manner that savors 
of discouragement and repulsive- 
ness. Finding them now animated 
by a glowing zeal, forward and abun- 
dant in their professions, and uncon- 
sciously prone to trust to their own 
strength, Joshua, in these words, 
designs to administer a wholesome 
check to their ardor, by setting im- 
pressively before them the holy and 
sin-avenging character of the God 
with whom they had to do, and the 
fearful consequences of disobedience 
and apostasy. This would beat them 
off from that overweening self-confi- 
dence which they were so prone to 
indulge. It would convince them 
that it was no light and easy matter 
to persevere in the strict observance 
of the divine precepts, and thus they 
would be more cautious, circum- 
spect, and humble in their profes- 
sions, and go forward in their walk 
with more awe upon their spirits, 
and a more trembling sense of their 



also serve the Lord ; for he is 
our God. 

19 And Joshua said unto the 
people, "^ Ye cannot serve the 
Lord : for he is a ^ holy God : 
he is ^ a jealous God ; ^ he will 
not forgive your transgressions, 
nor your sins. 

P§. 99. 5. 9. Isa. 5. 16. s Exod. 20. 5. t Exod 
23. 21. ' 



dependence on a higher power than 
their own. This Joshua well knew 
was the only frame of mind which 
could be trusted to for permanent and 
happy resulis, and he therefore aims 
to have their present lively zeal 
based upon the only foundation that 
would ensure its continuance. He 
would have them count the cost of 
the engagements into which they pro- 
posed to enter, and be fully aware of 
the temptations, tribulations, conflicts 
and self-denials which they would 
involve ; and above all would have 
their inmost souls pervaded by a 
deep and av'Jul reverence of God, the 
essential principle of all true religion. 
In like manner, it deserves very se- 
rious deliberation whether there is 
not danger of representing the sincere 
service of God as a matter of very 
little difficulty, provided only there 
be evidence of a present vigorous re- 
solution, and whether it be not better 
in such cases wisely to repress, chas- 
ten, and even dampen the warmth of 
present zeal by considerations like 
those which Joshua now pressed 
upon the children of Israel. The 
same infallible authority which as- 
sures us that the yoke of Christ is easy 
and his burden light, assures us also 
that the gate is strait, and the way 
narrow, that leads to lifis, and that 
there is need of striving as well as 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



217 



20 " If ye forsake the Lord, 
and serve strange gods, "" then 
lie will turn and do you hurt, 

u 1 Chron. 23. 9. 2 Chron. 15. 2. Ezra 
8. 22. Isa. 1. 28, and 65. 11, 12. Jer. 17. 13. 
X ch. 23. 15. Isa. 63. 10. Acts 7. 42.. 



seeking to enter in. Certain it is, 
that great wisdom is requisite in 
every spiritual guide in digging 
deep and laying the foundations 
sure of a life of consistent, uniform, 
and devoted piety. Nor are we of 
opinion that the policy of such emi- 
nent servants of God, as Moses, 
Joshua, Samuel, Peter, and Paul, 
will ever be out of date in the church. 
The more the sinner despairs of his 
own sufficiency, the better security 
will he give for his ultimate stability 
and perseverance in the faith.- 



IF He is an holy God. Heb. f tlbi^ 
tJ'^dp elohim kedoshim, he is holy 
Gods ; the adjective being plural as 
well as the substantive. The expres- 
sion is remarkable and contrary to 
usual analogy, but whether carrying 
with it any special implication in re- 
gard to the divine nature, it is per- 
haps impossible to say. We imagine, 
on the whole, that to a Hebrew ear 
the phrase would merely convey the 
idea of more emphasis, solemnity, 
and awfulness in respect to the at- 
tribute here affirmed of Jehovah. 



IF He is o. jealous God. As he has no 
equal, so neither can he suffer a 
rival. To pay to idols that worship 
which he alone deserves, or even to 
associate them with the homage 
which is paid to him, is to contest 
with him, to take from a part of that 
perfect holiness which constitutes 
his glory, and is what the Scriptures 
call profaning his holy name.- 



^Will not forgive. Or, Heb. t^ITi'i ^ 
lo yissa, will not bear, will not tolerate. 
19 



and consume you, after that he 
hath done you good. 

21 And the people said unto 
Joshua, Nay ; but we will serve 
the Lord. 

The meaning is, not that God was im- 
placable, or that he would not show 
mercy to the penitent, however great 
their sins, but that they could not of- 
fend against him with impunity, that 
he would certainly punish their trans- 
gressions. However it might be 
with others, they would be sure to be 
visited for their iniquities. 

20. Strange gods. Heb. "llD!] ^ti^t^ 
elohe nekar^ gods of the stranger or 

foreigner. IT Then he will turrij 

&c. Not in himself or in his dispo- 
sitions towards his creatures, for we 
are elsewhere told that with him there 
is ' no variableness nor the least sha- 
dow of turning.^ But the character 
of his dispensations, the course of 
his providence towards them should 
be entirely changed, in view of the 
change in their conduct towards him. 
He would henceforward be as severe 
and vindictive, as he had before been 

kind and gracious. U Consume 

yoUj after that he hath done you good. 
Nothing so embitters the judgments 
of God, as the reflection that they 
have been inctirred after the experi- 
ence of his tender mercies. The 
fact that we have made him to re- 
pent of his past kindnesses to us, 
and forget all the good he had 
wrought in our behalf, barbs and en- 
venoms the arrow of remorse beyond 
the power of language to describe. 

21, We will serve the Lord. This 
shows that they understood the words 
of Joshua to imply no moral inability 
on their side, and notwithstanding 
his statement of difficuities, and the 



218 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1427. 



22 And Joshua said unto the 
people, Ye are witnesses against 
yourselves that ^ye have chosen 
you the Lord, to serve him. 
And they said, We are wit- 
nesses. 

23 Now therefore ^put away 
(said he) the strange gods which 
are among you, and incline your 

y Ps. 119. 173. z ver. 14. Gen. 35. 2. Judg. 
10. 16. 1 Sam. 7. 3. 

seeming discouragements which he 
throws in their way, but which are 
really intended to quicken and in- 
vigorate their resolutions, they de- 
clare a firm and fixed purpose of 
obedience. In so saying they did 
virtually confirm and ratify by their 
own express consent the covenant 
which Joshua would now impose 
upon them, and by voluntarily en- 
gaging, as he intimated would be the 
case, to be witnesses against them- 
selves, provided they turned aside 
from God, they did in efiect afiix 
their name and seal to that solemn 
covenant, and bind themselves under 
fearful sanctions to its faithful ob- 
servance. Thus we have a sacred 
renewal, an authentic confirmation, 
of the covenant into which their fa- 
thers had entered with God, as their 
King, Ex. 12 and 24, which after this 
they could no more infringe, without 
being guilty in the highest degree of 
perjury. 

23. Put away the strange gods, 
&c. See above on v. 14. Rabbi 
Levi, son of Gerson, a Jewish com- 
mentator, remarks upon this pas- 
sage, that Joshua ' says this to them, 
in order that if their hearts had been 
enticed by any of the idolatries of 
the people of that land, they should 
^t away the pernicious thoughts that 



heart unto the Lord God of Is- 
rael. 

24 And the people said unto 
Joshua, the Lord our God will 
we serve, and his voice will we 
obey. 

25 So Joshua * made a cove- 
nant with the people that day, 
and set them a statute and an 
ordinance ^in Shechem. 

a Exod. 15. 25. 2Kins:s 11. 17. b ver. 26. 



were in them.' Augustin is of the 
same opinion in relation to the true 
meaning of the passage. 

25. Joshua made a covenant. Heb. 
tr^^D In'liD'^ yikrothberith, cut a cove- 
nant ; alluding to the sacrifice usu- 
ally offered on such occasions. But 
whether the ordinary rites were per- 
formed at this time is uncertaia. 
The use of this term does not per- 
haps necessarily imply that they 
were. The ceremonies usual in 
forming and in renewing a covenant 
might not have been the same. — — 
^]Set them a statute and an ordinance: 
That is, as some suppose, on renew- 
ing the covenant he formed the whole 
into a statute and ordinance which 
was promulgated for all Israel to re- 
ceive and obey. Both they and their 
posterity were to regard it in the 
light of a binding enactment, having 
all the force of a divine ordinance. 
Otherwise the phrase, ' he set them a 
statute,' &c., may mean that he de- 
clared or propounded to them, he set 
before them, the sum and substance 
of the Mosaic statutes, which their 
covenant obliged them to observe. 
But from what is said in the next 
verse of his writing these v/ords in 
the book of the law, we think the 
former the most correct interpretation. 
26. Wrote these words in the book 



B. C. 1427.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



21Q 



26 IT And Joshua '^ wrote these 
words in the book of the law of 
God, and took '^a s^reat stone, 
and ^ set it up there '^ under an 
oak that was by the sanctuary 
of the Lord. 

27 And Joshua said unto all 

c Deut. 31. 24. d Judg. 9. 6. e Gen. 28. 
18. ch. 4. 3. 1- Gen. 35. 4. 

of the laio of God. He made a re- 
cord of the Iransaction, particularly 
of the solemn engagements of the 
people, and inserted it on some blank 
space of the great roll on which the 
sacred canon was originally inscrib- 
ed. There it was written, that their 
obligation to obedience by the div^ine 
precept and by their own promise, 
might remain on record together. It 
would thus, as intimated in v. 25, 
from its very position, serv^e more 
effectually as ' a statute and an ordi- 
nance,' and be in fact an everlasting 
witness against them in case they 
should prove unfaithful to the com- 
pact, for it was probably transcribed 
from thence into all the Qther copies 
of the law which were multiplied in 
after ages for the benefit of the na- 
tion. '[[Took a great stone ^ and set 

it up there under an oak. To insure 
still more effectually the memory of 
this solemn transaction, Joshua reared 
a pillar of stone on the spot, accord- 
ing to the custom of ancient times, 
Gen. 2^18; Deut. 27. 2, as an en- 
during monument of the event which 
had now occurred. Whether the 
stone contained an inscription defin- 
ing the purpose of its erection, is not 
certain, though not improbable. The 
' oak ' here mentioned is supposed by 
some to have been the same with 
tliat under which Jacob buried the 
idols and images that were found in 



the people, Behold, this stone 
shall be "a witness unto us : for 
'' it hath heard all the words of 
the Lord which he spake unto 
us : it shall be therefore a wit- 
ness unto you, lest ye deny your 
God. 

g Gen. 31. 48, 52. Deut. 31. 19, 2], 26. ch. 
22. 27, 28, 34. »i Deut. 32. 1. 

his family, Gen. 35. 4, but in Judg. 
9. 6, the original term is translated 
' plain,' and the place where the 
stone was set up is called ' the plain 

of the pillar.' IT That was by the 

sanctuary of the Lord. Near the 
place where the ark and the taber- 
nacle now stood, during their tem- 
porary continuance at Shechem. 
See on v. 1. 

27. It hath heard all the words, &c. 
A strong figure of speech, by which 
he tacitly upbraids the people with 
the hardness of their hearts, as if 
this stone had heard to as good pur- 
pose as some of them ; and if they 
should forget what was now done, 
this stone would so far preserve the 
remembrance of it, as to reproach 
them for their stupidity and careless- 
ness, and be a witness against them. 
Williams very appositely cites from 
Livy the following instance of a sim* 
ilar phraseology ; — ' The general of 
the ^qui informed the Roman am- 
bassadors (sent to complain of a plun- 
dering excursion) that they might 
deliver their message to an oak which 
shaded his tent. On this one of the 
ambassadors, turning away, said: 
' This venerable oak and all the gods. 
shall know that you have violated the 
peace ; they shall now hear our com-i 
plaints; and may they soon be wit- 
nesses, when we revenge with our 
arms the violation of divine and, hu*: 



220 



JOSHUA. 



[B. C. 1426 



28 So ' Joshua let the people 
depart, every man unto his in- 
heritance. 

29 TT •" And it came to pass af- 
ter these things, that Joshua the 
son of Nun the servant of the 
Lord died, being a hundred and 
ten years old. 

30 And they buried him in the 

i Judg.2. 6. k Judg.2. 8. 

man rights.' By a like usage of 
speech the sacred writers frequently 
call upon the heavens and the earth 
to hear their addresses to the people 
of Israel. Deut. 32. 1; Is. 1. 2. 

28. So Joshua let the people depart^ 
every manto his own inheritance. Heb. 
nJlZJ^ yeshallah^ sent away, or dis- 
missed. This verse occurs in nearly 
the same words Judg. 2. 6, with the 
added clause, ' to possess the land ;' 
i. e. that every one might manfuljy 
exert himself to expel the Canaanites 
and obtain the complete possession 
of his destined inheritance. — * In this 
affecting manner Joshua took his 
leave of Israel, went from this last 
and perhaps best source to God and 
them, and was speedily taken to his 
rest in heaven.' Scott. 

29. Joshua — died, being a hundred 
and ten years old. Precisely the age 
of his renowned ancestor Joseph ; 
yet he was not buried in the same 
place with him, but in his own inher- 
itance, which seems to have been the 
general practice. — How long he liv- 
ed after the entrance of Israel into 
Canaan we have no means of deter- 
mining. Lightfoot thinks it was 
about seventeen years, but the Jew- 
ish chronologers generally fix it at 
twenty-seven or twenty-eight. There 
is no mention of any public mourn- 
ing at his death, as there was for 



border of his inheritance in 
' Timnath-serah, which is in 
mount Ephraim, on the north 
side of the hill of Gaash. 

31 And "" Israel served the 
Lord all the days of Joshua, 
and all the days of the elders 
that overlived Joshua, and which 

I chap. 19. 50. Judges 2. 9. m Judges 
2.7. 

Moses and Aaron, and his only epi- 
taph was, in effect, couched in the 
brief terms, * the servant of the 
Lord.' This however comprehend- 
ed the sum of the highest eulogiums 
that could be bestowed on his charac- 
ter. Though inferior in many re- 
spects to Moses, yet in this he was 
equal to him, that according as his 
work was in the sphere in which he 
was placed, he had approved himself 
a diligent, devoted, and faithful ser- 
vant of the Most High ; and no man 
need desire a more honorable testi- 
monial to record his worth to his own 
or future generations. 

30. Buried him in the border of his 
inheritance in Timnath-serah. In the 
compass, in the limits of his inherit- 
ance. See the remark on the import 
of the word ' border ' in the note on 
ch. 19. 25. Of Timnath-serah, see 
on Judg. 2. 9. 

31. The elders that over-lived Josh- 
ua. Heb. ' that prolonged their days 
after Joshua.' Intimating tlbat the 
salutary influence of Joshua's exem- 
plary life and character extended be- 
yond the term of his natural exist- 
ence, and served for a number of 
years to keep the people in a general 
course of obedience. Whether for 
good or for evil the effect of our ex- 
ample may be expected to live after 
us. This shows that this part of the 



B. C. 1420.] 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



221 



had " known all the works of 
the Lord that he had done for 
Israel. 

32 H" And ° the bones of Jo- 
seph, which the children of Is- 
rael brought up out of Egypt, 
buried they in Shechem, in a 
parcel of ground p which Jacob 
bouoht of the sons of Hamor 

o 

n Beat. 11. 2, and 31. 13. o Gen. 50. 25. 
Exod. 13. 19. P Gen. 33. 19. 

book must have been written a con- 
siderable time after the death of Josh- 
ua. See on ch. 4. 9. IF Which had 

Icnoion all the works of the Lord. Who 
had been eye-witnesses of them, who 
had profoundly and devoutly regard- 
ed them -J who had not only seen 
them, but pondered upon them with 
those sentiments which they were 
calculated to excite. Such is the 
genuine import of ' known ' in this 
connexion. 

32. The bones of Joseph buried they 
in Shechem. Joseph's death took place 
in Egypt about two hundred years 
before that of Joshua, and w^e learn, 
Gen. 50. 25 ; Ex. 13. 19, that prior to 
his decease he had given a strict 
charge that his bones should be con- 
veyed away out of Egypt by his peo- 
ple when ihey themselves w^ent up 
from thence. Accordingly they had 
carried these precious relics with 
them in all their wanderings through 
the wilderness, and never attempted 
to bury them till they were peaceably 
settled in the promised land. The act 
of sepulture, though here related after 
the account of the death of Joshua, 
undoubtedly took place before it, and 
not improbably at the time of the 
general convention at Shechem de- 
scribed in the present chapter. The 
occasion, at any rate, w^ould seem to 



the father of Shechem for a 
hundred pieces of silver ; and it 
became the inheritance of the 
children of Joseph. 

33 And Eleazar the son of 
Aaron died ; and they buried 
him in a hill that 'pertained to 
^ Phinehas his son, which was 
given him in mount Ephraim. 

q Exod. 6. 25. Judg. 20. 28. 

have been a very suitable one for 
such a solemn ceremony, although 
it be true that a considerable long 
interval had now elapsed since the 
conquest and occupation of Canaan. 
If any one prefers to translate the 
original ' had buried,' instead, of 
' buried,' implying that the circum- 
stance took place some years before, 
when the children of Joseph first re- 
ceived their inheritance, which they 
would naturally be disposed at once 
to consecrate by depositing within it 
the remains of their venerated an- 
cestor, we know of nothing to object 

against it. IF Which Jacob bought^ 

&c. See on Gen. 33. 19. 

33. And Eleazar — died. Probably 
about the same time with Joshua. 

IF In a hill that pertained to 

Phinehas. As the cities assigned to 
the priests lay in the lots of Judah, 
Benjamin and Simeon, neither father 
nor son could properly inherit a por- 
tion located in Mount Ephraim. But 
such a portion might be given them 
there, and the probability is that the 
people voluntarily gave to the high 
priest a place of residence situated at 
a convenient distance from Joshua 
and the tabernacle, and that this was 
called the ' hill of Phinehas,' because 
he dwelt longer there than his father 
Eleazar had done. 



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